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The Impact of Perinatal Depression on Children’s Social-Emotional Development: A Longitudinal Study

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Abstract

Objectives This longitudinal population study aimed to investigate if maternal depression at different time points during the perinatal period impacts children’s social-emotional development at 2 years of age. Methods Participants were women (n = 1235) who gave birth at Akershus University Hospital in Norway. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed by using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at pregnancy week 32 and at 8 weeks and 2 years postpartum, whereas children’s social-emotional development at the age of 2 years was assessed by using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional. Bi- and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the linkage between maternal perinatal depression and children’s early social-emotional development. Results Multivariate analyses showed that social-emotional problems in the child 2 years after birth were strongly associated with maternal depression at pregnancy week 32 (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3.4; 95 % CI 1.4–8.0), depression at 8 weeks postpartum (aOR 3.8; 95 % CI 1.7–8.6), and with depression at both time points (aOR 3.7; 95 % CI 1.5–10.1). Conclusion Findings indicate pre- and postnatal depression each bears an independent, adverse impact on children’s social-emotional development.

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Funding

The Akershus Birth Cohort study was funded by the Research Council of Norway, Project Number 191098.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

    Carolin Junge, Susan Garthus-Niegel & Malin Eberhard-Gran

  2. Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Carolin Junge, Susan Garthus-Niegel & Carolin Polte

  3. Institute and Outpatient Clinics of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Susan Garthus-Niegel

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Kari Slinning

  5. National Network for the Infant Mental Health, The Region Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, Oslo, Norway

    Kari Slinning

  6. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway

    Tone Breines Simonsen

  7. Health Services Research Centre, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway

    Tone Breines Simonsen & Malin Eberhard-Gran

  8. Institute of Clinical Medicine, Campus Ahus, University of Oslo, Lørenskog, Norway

    Malin Eberhard-Gran

Authors
  1. Carolin Junge
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  2. Susan Garthus-Niegel
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  3. Kari Slinning
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  4. Carolin Polte
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  6. Malin Eberhard-Gran
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Correspondence to Carolin Junge.

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Junge, C., Garthus-Niegel, S., Slinning, K. et al. The Impact of Perinatal Depression on Children’s Social-Emotional Development: A Longitudinal Study. Matern Child Health J 21, 607–615 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-2146-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-2146-2

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