2002 International International Biennial Scientific Meeting

POSTNATAL DEPRESSION AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT - IS THE EARLY MOTHER-INFANT INTERACTION A MEDIATING FACTOR?

Milgrom, J and Westley, DT

Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre/University of Melbourne

jeannette.milgrom@armc.org.au

Background: Postpartum depression has been associated with both early mother-infant interaction difficulties and long-term effects on child development. Whilst an etiological link may operate, there is little empirical evidence for this. This exploratory study aims to evaluate this link.

Method: A group of 41 postnatally depressed mothers and their infants was followed until 42 months postpartum alongside 48 control (non-depressed) mothers. Maternal depression severity was assessed with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. The quality of mother-infant interactions was recorded in vivo using a validated rating scale. Infant developmental characteristics were investigated with the Behaviour Checklist, The Short Temperament Scales for Infants and Toddlers and The Wechsler Preschool Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R).

Results: Depressed mothers' interactions with their infants were impaired relative to controls at 6 months postpartum. Subsequent cognitive deficits were found in children's Verbal Scale IQ and Full Scale IQ on the Wechsler Preschool Primary Scale of Intelligence (Revised) at 42 months of age. Male infants of depressed mothers appeared to be disproportionately vulnerable (compared to females) to impaired cognitive abilities associated with maternal depression. A series of regression analyses confirmed that these effects of maternal depression were mediated via lowered responsiveness to infants at 6 months. Similarly, increased behavioural and temperamental difficulties were apparent in children of depressed mothers from 6 months onwards.

Conclusions: The data concur with previous work and provide quantitative evidence in support of the hypothesis that early disturbance of the mother-infant interaction plays a significant contributory role in later cognitive and behavioural problems in the children of depressed mothers.

Preview of further work: There have been few reports of the effectiveness of intervention for disturbed mother-infant interactions following postnatal depression. Preliminary results are presented of a short-term intervention program which shows promising results of this approach on videotaped observations. Improvements are also evident on parenting self-report using the Parenting Stress Index, a measure we have found to discriminate between depressed and non-depressed mothers in previous studies.