Association between maternal postnatal depressive symptoms and infants’ communication skills: A longitudinal study

Valla, Lisbeth; Wentzel‐Larsen, Tore; Smith, Lars; Birkeland, Marianne Skogbrott; Slinning, Kari

doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2016.10.001

Cited by 29 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…First, maternal depression during the prenatal and toddler periods was related to child communication skills at age 5, but postpartum depression was not. While some previous studies have found that postpartum depression predicts lower child communication and language skills (Kawai et al, 2017; Valla, Wentzel‐Larsen, Smith, Birkeland, & Slinning, 2016), others have not (Cornish et al, 2005; Paulson, Keefe, & Leiferman, 2009; Piteo, Yelland, & Makrides, 2012). Prior research has almost exclusively examined the effects of postnatal depression on child communication and language during infancy or toddlerhood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The chronicity and timing of prenatal and antenatal maternal depression and anxiety on child outcomes at age 5

et al. 2020

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Background Maternal depression and anxiety have been associated with deleterious child outcomes. It is, however, unclear how the chronicity and timing of maternal mental health problems predict child development outcomes. The aim of the current study was to assess the effect of both chronicity and timing of maternal anxiety and depression in pregnancy, infancy, and the toddler period on children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as social and communication skills at age 5. Method Participants were 1,992 mother–child pairs drawn from a large prospective pregnancy cohort. Mothers reported on anxiety and depression symptoms with clinical screening tools at six time points between <25 weeks gestation and 3 years postpartum. Child outcomes were assessed at age 5. Results Effect sizes were small for brief incidents of depression/anxiety and increased for intermittent and chronic problems (i.e., three or more timepoints) compared with mothers who had never experienced clinical‐level anxiety or depression. Maternal anxiety/depression during pregnancy, infancy, and toddlerhood predicted all child outcomes, even after controlling for depression/anxiety during the other timepoints. However, maternal anxiety and depression during toddlerhood had a stronger association with child internalizing/externalizing symptoms and communication skills than either prenatal or postpartum depression/anxiety. Conclusions Increasing number of exposures to clinical‐level anxiety and depression is related to poorer child outcomes. Neither prenatal nor postpartum periods emerged as “sensitive” periods. Rather, maternal depression and anxiety during toddlerhood was more strongly associated with child outcomes at age 5. Results highlight the need for continued support for maternal mental health across early childhood.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The chronicity and timing of prenatal and antenatal maternal depression and anxiety on child outcomes at age 5

et al. 2020

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“…Importantly, depression in parents is a significant risk factor for poorer outcomes for children [13,14]. For example, maternal depression is negatively associated with a child's language development [15,16]. Children of depressed mothers exhibit a stronger physiological response to stress (as measured by increased cortisol levels) [17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depressive symptoms in parents are associated with reduced empathy toward their young children

2020

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Background While depression is typically associated with reduced levels of empathy, this association differs depending on how empathy is measured. Given the importance of empathy in the parent-child relationship, we sought to examine whether the associations between depression and dispositional empathy would also extend to empathy towards one's own child. Methods Within a non-clinical sample of 150 parents of young children, we examined the associations between self-reported depressive symptoms, dispositional empathic tendencies, and empathy specifically toward their own children, and how these associations might differ based on parent gender. Results Depressive symptoms were related to lower levels of cognitive and affective empathy, and higher levels of empathic distress. Over and above the association with dispositional empathy, depressive symptoms were associated with reduced levels of parents' affective empathy toward their own child. The associations between depressive symptoms and both dispositional and own-child specific empathy varied by parent gender. For fathers, depressive symptoms predicted own-child specific affective empathy, over and above dispositional affective empathy, while for mothers, depressive symptoms predicted own-child specific empathic distress, over and above dispositional empathic distress. Conclusions The current findings provide further indication that caregivers with elevated depression may engage in patterns of thoughts and behaviors that have implications for their interactions with their children. Parents' experienced empathy toward their own child may be one mechanism by which depression impacts the early caregiving environment, and thus may be an important target for intervention in improving the early caregiving experiences for children at PLOS ONE

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“…Maternal behaviours, such as speech and affect, can be modelled by or transmitted to the child, and the child of a depressed mother may look 'depressed' (e.g., less talking, less touching and more negative facial expressions) (Stein et al, 2014;Tronick & Reck, 2009). Importantly, a child's communication efforts may be ignored by a depressed mother (Valla et al, 2016), and decreased mother-child interactions means that the child loses opportunities to practice and improve communication abilities. Therefore, children exposed to MDS and lower mother-child interactions have a greater chance of poor performance in communication domains.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal depressive symptoms and early childhood development: the role of mother–child interactions among mother–child dyads in rural areas of Central and Western China

Liu

Yang

Yang³

et al. 2021

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Background The associations among maternal depressive symptoms (MDS), mother–child interactions and early child development are poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the role of mother–child interactions on the associations between MDS and child development. Methods A cross-sectional study with a multistage sampling method was conducted in rural areas of Central and Western China. MDS, child development outcomes (communication, gross motor function, fine motor function, problem solving and personal social skills) and mother–child interactions were assessed by The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale, the Chinese version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, respectively. Regression-based statistical mediation and moderation were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results A total of 2,548 participants (mothers: 1,274; children: 1,274) were included in our analyses. MDS was negatively associated with child development outcomes and mother–child interactions partly mediated these associations. The proportion of the mediating effect of mother–child interactions was 7.7% for communication, 8.2% for gross motor, 10.3% for fine motor, 10.1% for problem-solving and 9.5% for personal social domains. In addition, the interaction effects of MDS and mother–child interactions on the communication domain were significant (β = 0.070, 95% CI 0.016, 0.124; p = 0.011). The associations between MDS and child communication abilities were weaker at the high level (simple slope = −0.019, t = − 0.458, p = 0.647) of mother–child interactions than at the mean level (simple slope = −0.089, t = − 3.190, p = 0.002) and the low level (simple slope = −0.158, t = − 4.231, p < 0.001). Similar moderating effects were not observed in the other child development outcomes. Conclusion Our results suggest the important role of mother–child interactions on the associations between MDS and early childhood development. Due to the cross-sectional design of this study, these associations require further investigation in prospective studies.

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Association between maternal postnatal depressive symptoms and infants’ communication skills: A longitudinal study

Cited by 29 publications

References 36 publications

The chronicity and timing of prenatal and antenatal maternal depression and anxiety on child outcomes at age 5

The chronicity and timing of prenatal and antenatal maternal depression and anxiety on child outcomes at age 5

Depressive symptoms in parents are associated with reduced empathy toward their young children

Maternal depressive symptoms and early childhood development: the role of mother–child interactions among mother–child dyads in rural areas of Central and Western China

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