The impact of maternal depression and adversity on mother-infant face-to-face interactions at 2 months, and on subsequent infant cognitive development and attachment, was examined in a low-risk sample of primiparous women and their infants. The severe disturbances in mother-infant engagement characteristic of depressed groups in disadvantaged populations were not evident in the context of postpartum mood disorder in the present study. However, compared to well women, depressed mothers were less sensitively attuned to their infants, and were less affirming and more negating of infant experience. Similar difficulties in maternal interactions were also evident in the context of social and personal adversity. Disturbances in early mother-infant interactions were found to be predictive of poorer infant cognitive outcome at 18 months. Infant attachment, by contrast, was not related to the quality of 2-month interactions, but was significantly associated with the occurrence of adversity, as well as postpartum depression.
SUMMARY A large group of infants of primiparous women who were at high risk for postnatal depression (N=188) and a smaller group of those at low risk (N=43) were assessed in the neonatal period using the Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale. Poor motor scores and high irritability were strongly predictive of the onset of maternal depression by eight wéeks postpartum. These effects obtained after taking account of both maternal mood in the neonatal period and maternal perceptions of infant temperament. Poor motor scores and high levels of infant irritability in the neonatal period also predicted less optimal infant behaviour in face‐to‐face interactions with the mother at two months postpartum. Neonatal behaviour did not predict the persistence of depression, nor did it predict the quality of maternal behaviour in interaction with the infant. RÉSUMÉ Le rôle des facteurs infantiles dans la dépression post‐ natale et les interactions mère‐enfant. Un groupe important de nourrissons de mères primipares à haut risque de dépression du postpartum (N=188) et un plus petit groupc de mères à faible risque (N=43) ont été examinées durant la période néonatale à l'aide de la Neonatal Behavioural Assessement Scale. Des scores moteurs médiocres et un degréélevé d'irritabilité ont été fortement prédictifs d'un début de dépression maternelle à huit semaines de post‐partum. Ces effets étaient obtenus en tenant compte à la fois de l'humeur maternelle dans la période néonatale et la perception maternelle du comportement de leur enfant. Des scores moteurs médiocres et un niveau élevé de l'irritabilité chez lc nourrisson durant la période néonatale prédisait également un comportcment infantile moins optimal dans l'interaction de face à face avec la mère deux mois après la naissance. Le comportement à la naissance ne prédisait pas la persistance de la dépression, ni la qualité du comportement maternel dans l'interaction avec son nourrisson. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Der Einfluβ kindlicher Faktoren auf postnatale Depressionen und Mutter‐Kind Interaktionen Eine große Gruppe von Säuglingen erstgebärender Mütter, die ein hohes Risiko für eine postnatale Depression hatten (N=188) und eine kleinere Gruppe solcher mit niedrigem Risiko (N=43) wurden in der Neugeborenenperiode mit Hilfe der Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale untersucht. Schlechte motorische Scores und hochgradige Empfindlichkeit waren wichtige Parameter für den Beginn einer mütterlichen Depression bis fünf Wochen postpartum. Diese Einfüsse blieben auch bestehen, nachdem man sowohl die Stimmung der Mutter in der Nconatalpcriode als auch ihre Einschätzungen des kindlichen Temperaments berücksichtigt hattc. Schlechte motorische Scores und hochgradige Empfindlichkeit des Kindes in der Neonatalperiode waren kein optimaler Parameter für das kindliche Verhalten bei Blickkontakt‐Interaktionen mit der Mutter im Alter von zwei Monaten post partum. Das Verhalten in der Neonatalperiode besagte nichts über das Fortbestehen der Depression, noch besagte es etwas über die Art des mütterlichen Verhalt...
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