Maternal social support, depression and emotional availability in early mother-infant interaction: Findings from a pregnancy cohort

MacMillan, Kelli K.; Lewis, Andrew J.; Watson, Stuart; Bourke, Declan; Galbally, Megan

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.048

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Similarly, MacMillan et al (2020) reported that maternal prenatal depression symptoms have a small effect on maternal EA at 6 months postpartum, while there was no effect of a postnatal depression diagnosis on maternal EA. In a consecutive study, MacMillan et al (2021) found the association between maternal depressive symptoms during early pregnancy and EA at 6 months postpartum to be moderated by maternal postpartum perceptions of partner and family social support. This indicates that the effect of on EA might in some populations be evident only when other contextual risk factors are also present.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Maternal Executive Functioning, Emotional Availability and Psychological Distress During Toddlerhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

et al. 2021

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Executive functioning (EF) is one of the building blocks in parental caregiving behavior, and contextual variables have been reported to moderate the link between EF and caregiving behavior. Although psychological distress due to various factors is prevalent during early parenthood and is negatively associated with adult EF, it is not known whether psychological distress influences the maternal EF/caregiving link. This study explored the association between maternal EF and caregiving behavior (more specifically, Emotional Availability/EA), and whether single and cumulative maternal psychological distress domains moderated the EF/EA association in a general population sample of 137 Finnish birth cohort mothers with 2.5-year-old children. EF was measured with a composite of five computerized Cogstate tasks, EA with the Emotional Availability Scales, and three psychological distress domains with self-report questionnaires (depression: EPDS, anxiety: SCL-90, insomnia: AIS). Better EF was significantly associated with more positive, sensitive caregiving, but this association was no longer significant when controlling for education level. Neither individual nor cumulative distress domains moderated the EF/EA association significantly, although the observed moderation effects were in the expected direction. These findings suggest that EF should be recognized alongside socioemotional factors as variables that are associated with parental caregiving behavior during toddlerhood. Furthermore, if the non-significant moderation results are replicated, they indicate that mothers in community samples are not at great risk for psychological distress that would compromise their capacity to utilize their EF while caring for their child. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings, as well as to examine these associations among fathers and in samples that have higher levels of chronic stressors. Studies with more diverse samples in terms of distress levels and EF performance would provide further insight into early childhood parenting and its risk factors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Maternal Executive Functioning, Emotional Availability and Psychological Distress During Toddlerhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

et al. 2021

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“…It has been proposed that social support plays an important role in the relationship between negative life events and depression [ 60 , 61 ]. Family members, the essential source of social support [ 62 ], should provide these women who have conceived twins with sufficient emotional support and living care [ 63 ], and should learn to recognize the signs of depression and seek professional help as soon as possible.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The prevalence and associated factors of prenatal depression and anxiety in twin pregnancy: a cross-sectional study in Chongqing, China

Zhou

Huang

Baker

et al. 2022

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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Background Pregnant women expecting twins are more likely to experience stress, which can lead to anxiety and depression. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of prenatal anxiety and depressive symptoms in women with twin pregnancies and the associated factors. Methods In a cross-sectional survey, 210 women with twin pregnancies who satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria in two tertiary centers in Southwestern China were asked to complete a basic information form, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). To compare statistics with normal distribution in distinct characteristic groups, a paired t-test, and one-way ANOVA were utilized. Binary logistic step regression was used to analyze the associated factors of antenatal anxiety and depressive symptoms. Results The 210 women with twin pregnancies (age = 30.8 ± 4.2 years) were between 7 and 37 gestational weeks (29.2 ± 1.2 weeks), were typically well-educated (72.4% had a post-high-school degree), and reasonably affluent (88.1% were above the low-income cutoff). Among them, 34.8% had symptoms associated with clinical levels of anxiety, and 37.1% had symptoms indicating possible depression. The prevalence of co-morbid anxiety and depressive symptoms was 24.3%. Binary stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that previous health status and sleep disturbance during pregnancy were the associated factors of anxiety symptoms in women with twin pregnancies (P < 0.05), whereas age, previous health status, negative life events, and physical activity during pregnancy were the associated factors of depressive symptoms in women with twin pregnancies (P < 0.05). Conclusion About one-third of women with twin pregnancies had symptoms of anxiety or depression; these were most strongly predicted by some modifiable factors, suggesting that early preventive mind-body interventions may be a promising strategy to protect against mental health issues for women with twin pregnancies.

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“…The perceived lack of support from the partner and social network exacerbates the natural insecurities faced by the new mother in caring for her child [ 35 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women’s Perinatal Mental Health: Preliminary Data on the Risk of Perinatal Depression/Anxiety from a National Survey in Italy

Camoni¹,

Mirabella²,

Gigantesco³

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Increasing evidence suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety and depression during the perinatal period increased. The aim of the study is to estimate the prevalence of risk for both maternal depression and anxiety among women attending 18 healthcare centres in Italy during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic and to investigate the psychosocial risks and protective factors associated. It was divided into a retrospective phase (2019, 2020, and the first nine months of 2021) and a prospective phase (which began in November 2021 and it is still ongoing), which screened 12,479 and 2349 women, respectively, for a total of 14,828 women in the perinatal period. To evaluate the risk of anxiety and depression, the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and an ad hoc form were used to collect sociodemographic variables. In the prospective study, the average age of the women is 31 (range 18–52) years. Results showed that the percentage of women who had EPDS score ≥9 increased from 11.6% in 2019 to 25.5% in the period ranging from November 2021 to April 2022. In logistic regression models, the variables associated with the risk of depression at a level ≤0.01 include having economic problems (OR 2.16) and not being able to rely on support from relatives or friends (OR 2.36). Having the professional status of the housewife is a lower risk (OR 0.52). Those associated with the risk of anxiety include being Italian (OR 2.97), having an education below secondary school level (OR 0.47), having some or many economic problems (OR 2.87), being unable to rely on support from relatives or friends (OR 2.48), and not having attended an antenatal course (OR 1.41). The data from this survey could be useful to determine the impact of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic on women and to establish a screening program with common and uniformly applied criteria which are consistent with national and international women’s mental health programs.

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Maternal social support, depression and emotional availability in early mother-infant interaction: Findings from a pregnancy cohort

Cited by 17 publications

References 93 publications

Maternal Executive Functioning, Emotional Availability and Psychological Distress During Toddlerhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

Maternal Executive Functioning, Emotional Availability and Psychological Distress During Toddlerhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

The prevalence and associated factors of prenatal depression and anxiety in twin pregnancy: a cross-sectional study in Chongqing, China

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women’s Perinatal Mental Health: Preliminary Data on the Risk of Perinatal Depression/Anxiety from a National Survey in Italy

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