Predicting adolescent postpartum caregiving from trajectories of depression and anxiety prior to childbirth: a 5-year prospective study

Abstract

Purpose Symptoms of depression and anxiety in pregnancy have been linked to later impaired caregiving. However, mood symptoms are often elevated in pregnancy and may reflect motherhood-specific concerns. In contrast, little is known about the effects of pre-pregnancy depression and anxiety on postpartum caregiving. Understanding these developmental risk factors is especially important when childbearing also occurs during adolescence. Methods The sample comprised 188 adolescent mothers (ages 12–19 years) who had participated in a longitudinal study since childhood. Mothers were observed in face-to-face interaction with the infant at 4 months postpartum, and caregiving behaviors (sensitivity, hostile-intrusive behavior and mental state talk) were coded independently. Data on self-reported depression and anxiety gathered in the five years prior to childbirth were drawn from the large-scale longitudinal study. Results Parallel process latent growth curve models revealed unique effects of distal anxiety and slow decline in anxiety over time on lower levels of maternal mental state talk after accounting for the overlap with depression symptom development. Depressive symptoms showed significant stability from distal measurement to the postpartum period, but only concurrent postpartum mood was associated with poorer quality of maternal speech. Conclusions The results highlight specific targets for well-timed preventive interventions with vulnerable dyads.

A transactional model of infant still‐face response and maternal behavior during the first year

“…Maternal warmth, involvement, sensitivity, hostility/irritability, and intrusive behaviors were rated during the warm‐up and toy play episodes using 4‐point rating scale (Hipwell, Guo, Phillips, Swain, & Moses‐Kolko, ; Hipwell et al., ; Morgan et al., ). In addition, maternal mental state talk was rated using a 4‐point rating scale based on the relative frequency of comments made that attributed skills, intentionality, and abilities to the infant, reflecting a belief that the baby could play an active role in or have an impact on the environment (Hipwell et al., , ). This system of rating scales has been used in prior work demonstrating their utility and validity (Hipwell et al., , ; Morgan et al., ).…”

“…In addition, maternal mental state talk was rated using a 4‐point rating scale based on the relative frequency of comments made that attributed skills, intentionality, and abilities to the infant, reflecting a belief that the baby could play an active role in or have an impact on the environment (Hipwell et al., , ). This system of rating scales has been used in prior work demonstrating their utility and validity (Hipwell et al., , ; Morgan et al., ). In addition, infant positive affect, negative affect, and gaze to mother were coded on 5‐point scales during warm‐up, toy play, and still‐face episodes.…”

Predicting postpartum depression among adolescent mothers: A systematic review of risk

“…Notably, 10 statistically significant associations were found between PPD symptoms and risk factors reported only once across studies. These included physical abuse (d=0.54, medium ES), sexual abuse (d=1.57, large ES) (Gilson & Lancaster, 2008), anxiety up to three years prior to birth (T-3 Anxiety: r=0.16, small ES; T-2 Anxiety: r=0.27 medium ES; T-1 Anxiety: r=0.37, medium ES), (Hipwell et al, 2016b), and grandmother acceptance during childhood (r=-0.33, medium ES) (Leadbeater & Linares, 1992). Further significant associations included multiple stressors (OR= 9.50, large ES), drinking alcohol or smoking prior to pregnancy (prior alcohol: OR 2.04, small ES; prior smoking: OR=2.01 small ES) or during the third trimester (alcohol: OR=2.95 small-medium ES; smoking: OR=2.06, small ES) (Nunes & Phipps, 2013), low self-esteem (r=-0.43, medium ES) (Secco, 1997), acculturative stress (r=0.32, medium ES) and enculturative stress (r=0.22, small ES) (Zeiders et al, 2015).…”

The Impact of Caregiving on the Association Between Infant Emotional Behavior and Resting State Neural Network Functional Topology

“…Declarative indices of maternal MST have been linked with subsequent social–cognitive abilities in the child, including heightened emotion understanding ( Doan and Wang, 2010 ). Our own work and that of others, has shown maternal MST to be a distinct aspect of maternal caregiving ( Hipwell et al, 2016 ) with particular relevance for shaping emotional behaviors in the child ( Meins et al, 2012 ; Hipwell et al, 2015 ).…”