Intellectual Problems Shown by 11‐year‐old Children Whose Mothers Had Postnatal Depression

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine long-term sequelae in the children of mothers who were depressed at 3 months postpartum. In a community sample from two general practices in South London. 149 women were given psychiatric interviews at 3 months postpartum and 132 of their children (89 %) were tested at 11 years of age. The children of women who were depressed at 3 months postpartum had significantly lower IQ scores. They also had attentional problems and difficulties in mathematical reasoning. and were more likely than other children to have special educational needs. Boys were more severely affected than girls, with the sex difference most pronounced on Performance IQ. The links between postnatal depression and the children's intellectual problems were not mediated by parental IQ and were not accounted for by measures of social disadvantage nor by the mother's later mental health problems. Breastfeeding did not remove the effect of the mother's illness on Full Scale IQ, but exerted its own influence on Verbal IQ and appeared to mediate the link with mathematical ability. The findings show that adverse experiences in infancy predict cognitive ability and academic performance a decade later.

Maternal depression and child development

“…In a longitudinal study of 132 children by Hay et al (36), lower IQ scores, attentional problems, difficulties in mathematical reasoning and special educational needs were significantly more frequent in children whose mothers were depressed at three months postpartum than in controls. In addition, boys were more affected than girls.…”

“…Characteristics of the child Sex differences have been described in some studies (13,23,36), with boys being more vulnerable and distressed by maternal depression than girls.…”

Alteración del desarrollo psicomotor en hijos de mujeres con depresión posparto de la ciudad de Valdivia-Chile

“…Se señala que el impacto de DPP continúa en edades avanzadas de los niños; por ejemplo, en preescolares existiría mayor frecuencia de trastornos de conducta, ansiedad, agresividad, retraso del lenguaje, y bajo desarrollo socio-emocional 20,21 ; también se ha observado mayor dificultad de adaptación y concentración en escolares, abuso de sustancias, psicopatologías y agresividad en edades mayores [22][23][24] .…”

Transtornos psiquiátricos no pós-parto

“…Os bebês se aconchegam pouco, têm pouca reciprocidade com suas mães e expressão emocional diminuída, são irritados e choram mais, têm mais problemas de alimentação e sono e menor desenvolvimento motor 52 . Estudos de follow-up com crianças de mães com DPP demonstram que essas crianças têm menos segurança afetiva 53 , apresentam maior incidência de distraibilidade, alterações de comportamento, atraso no desenvolvimento cognitivo e transtornos afetivos [54][55][56][57] .…”