Adolescents at risk for depression show increased white matter microstructure with age across diffuse areas of the brain

Maternal history of depression is a strong predictor of depression in offspring and linked to structural and functional alterations in the developing brain. However, very little work has examined differences in white matter in adolescents at familial risk for depression. In a sample aged 9–14 (n = 117), we used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to examine differences in white matter microstructure between adolescents with (n = 42) and without (n = 75) maternal history of depression. Microstructure was indexed using fractional anisotropy (FA). Threshold-free cluster enhancement was applied and cluster maps were thresholded at whole-brain family-wise error