Trajectories of parenting behavior and maternal depression

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Highlights

  • Mother–infant interaction with comorbid, depressed and nondepressed mothers.

  • Over the follow-up from 6 to 18 months the comorbid mothers lowest in maternal style.

  • Comorbid mothers increased parenting quality despite elevated depression symptoms.

  • Mean maternal style and infant cognitive skills predicted dyadic quality.

  • Mother–toddler relationship depends on contributions from both mother and child.

Abstract

This study investigated trajectories of maternal parenting behavior across the infants’ first 18 months of life in relation to maternal depression. Furthermore, predictors of the quality of the mother–infant relationship at 18 months were examined. Participants consisted of three types of mother–infant dyads: mothers with comorbid depression and anxiety (n = 19), mothers with depression (n = 7) and nondepressed mothers (n = 24). Maternal behaviors and the quality of relationship were rated on a global scale (NICHD) from video-taped mother–infant interactions. Maternal behaviors rated at six, 12 and 18 months were collapsed into a composite variable maternal style. The quality of the relationship captured as dyadic mutuality was rated at 18 months. Comorbid and depressed mothers showed lower quality in maternal style compared with the nondepressed mothers at six months. Over the follow-up the comorbid mothers were lower in maternal style compared to the nondepressed mothers, but the comorbid mothers increased significantly in maternal style despite elevated depression symptoms. Mean maternal style and infant cognitive skills predicted the quality in relationship at 18 months suggesting that the mother–toddler relationship depends on contributions from the mother and the child. Higher growth in maternal style despite of depression symptoms among comorbid mothers was interpreted against the background that the majority of the comorbid mother–infant dyads received several treatments.

Section snippets

Effects of depression on maternal parenting and child outcome

Research has shown that children exposed to maternal depression are in risk for a wide range of negative cognitive, emotional and behavioral outcomes (Goodman and Gotlib, 1999, Hay et al., 2001, Murray et al., 2011). Several studies have demonstrated that distal and proximal factors operate jointly over time in linking maternal depression to different developmental pathways in offspring (Cicchetti et al., 1998, Dawson et al., 2003, Downey and Coyne, 1990, Goodman and Gotlib, 1999). Many studies

Participants and recruitment

Fifty-seven mother–infant dyads were recruited from different sources in the Oslo area in Norway: (1) psychiatric hospitals and general health care institutions and (2) well baby clinics and shopping centers. Participants from psychiatric hospitals and general health care were recruited to the depression sub-sample as they were referred for treatment of mental illness during the postpartum period. 42 potentially depressed mothers were informed individually about the project by the first author,

Demographic information and obstetric health history

As shown in Table 1, the depressed, comorbid and nondepressed mothers were not significantly different in age or educational level. Overall, mothers had a high level of completed education. The most frequent degree earned among mothers in the nondepressed and the depressed sub-sample was a Master/PhD degree (50.0% and 71.4% respectively). Among the comorbid mothers the most frequent degree earned was a Bachelor degree (36.8%), followed by a Master/PhD degree (31.6%). The infants of comorbid

Discussion

The present study is one of the first studies comparing trajectories in maternal parenting behavior of mothers with comorbid depression and anxiety and mothers with depression only. Maternal parenting behavior was assessed when the infants were six, 12 and 18 months old in a sample of three types of mothers: mothers with comorbid depression and anxiety disorder, mothers with depression only and mothers with nondepressed mothers. The present study also examined whether maternal depression

Conclusions

The comorbid mothers were rated as lower in quality of maternal parenting behaviors during the first 18 months of the infants’ life as compared to the nondepressed mothers. Despite that the comorbid mothers reported elevated depression symptoms they showed a significant increase in quality of parenting over the follow-up. This suggests that the comorbid and the nondepressed mothers are getting more similar over time in parenting behavior. These findings are incongruent with reports from other

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by “The National Program for Integrated Clinical Specialist and PhD-training for Psychologists” in Norway to the first author. The program is a joint cooperation between Universities of Bergen, Oslo, Tromsø, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Trondheim), the Regional Health Authorities, and the Norwegian Psychological Association. The program is funded jointly by The Ministry of Education and Research and The Ministry of Health and Care Services. This

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