Citation

Væver MS, Pedersen IE, Smith‐Nielsen J, Tharner A. Infant Ment. Health J. 2020; 41(4): 477-494.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/imhj.21846

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Maternal postpartum depression (PPD) is a risk for disruption of mother-infant interaction. Infants of depressed mothers have been found to display less positive, more negative, and neutral affect. Other studies have found that infants of mothers with PPD inhibit both positive and negative affect. In a sample of 28 infants of mothers with PPD and 52 infants of nonclinical mothers, we examined the role of PPD diagnosis and symptoms for infants' emotional variability, measured as facial expressions, vocal protest, and gaze using microanalysis, during a mother-infant face-to-face interaction. PPD symptoms and diagnosis were associated with (a) infants displaying fewer high negative, but more neutral/interest facial affect events, and (b) fewer gaze off events. PPD diagnosis, but not symptoms, was associated with less infant vocal protest. Total duration of seconds of infant facial affective displays and gaze off was not related to PPD diagnosis or symptoms, suggesting that when infants of depressed mothers display high negative facial affect or gaze off, these expressions are more sustained, indicating lower infant ability to calm down and re-engage, interpreted as a disturbance in self-regulation. The findings highlight the importance of not only examining durations, but also frequencies, as the latter may inform infant emotional variability.

Language: en

Keywords

affichage émotionnel du bébé; auto-regulación del infante; auto-régulation du bébé; depresión materna posterior al parto; dépression postpartum maternelle; emotionaler Ausdruck des Kindes; infant emotional display; interacción madre-infante; interaction mère-bébé; maternal postpartum depression; microanalysis; mother–infant interaction; muestra emocional del infante; Mutter-Kind Interaktion; mütterliche postpartale Depression; Selbstregulation des Kindes; self-regulation; اكتئاب الأمهات بعد الولادة، المظاهر العاطفية للرضع، التفاعل بين الأم والرضيع، التنظيم الذاتي للرضع; 母親の産後うつ病、乳児の感情表出、母子相互作用、乳児の自己制御