No abstract

In this study, the continuity, timing and severity of depressive symptoms around delivery was compared to maternal sensitivity in a community-based sample of 78 first-time mothers. Maternal mood was assessed before delivery (an interview and the General Health Questionnaire), 2 weeks and 4 months after delivery (the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale), and maternal sensitivity 6-8 weeks after delivery (the CARE-Index). Nearly half (46%) of the mothers reported having depressive symptoms at least once, and half of these (23%) reported having such symptoms recurrently. Depressive mothers were significantly lower in sensitivity than non-depressive ones. Both pre- and postnatal, as well as recurrent and transient symptoms, affected the maternal interactive style, and both major and minor depressive symptoms were in most cases part of depressive continuity. Most (76%) mothers who reported depressive symptoms 2 weeks after delivery also reported recurrent symptoms. The most significant finding is considered to be that most (75%) mothers who were assessed to be at the risk level in sensitivity reported depressive symptoms. The public health nurses in the well-baby clinics identified only a few depressive mothers with recurrent symptoms. The conclusion of our study was that depressive symptoms at any time point around delivery constitute a risk of maternal interactive functioning, and identification of these problems is essential for well-timed and focused interventions.

Maternal sensitivity and infant co-operation during free play was analysed at the infant's age of 10 months and their contributions to early communicative and linguistic development at 12 months as well as later language outcome at 30 months were examined. In addition, the possible predictions of early skills to later development were considered. The participants were 27 Finnishspeaking mother -infant dyads. According to the results maternal sensitivity was associated with early intentional communication-particularly the use of communicative gestures, and also with symbolic behaviour and later comprehensive skills. No associations between infant co-operation and communicative and linguistic skills were found. As for expressive language skills, early capacities correlated with later outcome. The findings of the present study suggest that the effects of both maternal sensitivity and child characteristics on language development are likely to be specific rather than global.

In this small-scale preliminary study, we compared the correlation between assessments based on short videorecordings and infant observation. Five mother-infant dyads were assessed when the child was 1 year of age according to the Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment method (PCERA, 65 items) developed by Roseanne Clark (1985), using both observations covering 1 year and a 5-min videorecording. The agreement between two video raters was sufficient (κ = 0.41-1.00 or proportion of agreement: 4/5-5/5) in 54 items. In 42 (78%) of these items, there was at least moderate agreement (κ = 0.41-1.00 or proportion of agreement 4/5-5/5), and in another 7 (13%) items fair (κ = 0.21-0.40 or proportion of agreement 3/5) agreement between the video and observation ratings, and both methods revealed the areas of strength and areas of concern of the dyads. Only a few items describing negative interactive style were assessed as identifying concern, but such items identified the dyad which was assessed to have the most constant problems. Most items describing positive interactive style and identifying the areas of concern in the interactive style according to both observation and video assessment were connected with the parental and dyadic engagement in the interaction. Five items with slight or poor (κ ≤ 0.20 or proportion of agreement 1/5-2/5) agreement between video rater and observer gave rise to questions about how the videorecording situation affected the behavior of the dyads, and about the limits of assessment methods and assessment of dyads with children of different ages and dyads from different cultures. ©2005 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

In our well-baby clinic study, we investigated how early maternal sensitivity predicted child behaviour two years later. On the basis of the early (6-8 weeks) maternal sensitivity (the CARE-Index I), 74 dyads were divided into the groups 'good enough' (73.0%), 'moderate problems' (13.5%) and 'at risk' (13.5%). At child age of 24 months, the mother-child interactive style was assessed using the CARE-Index (II), the mothers reported child behavioural problems on the CBCL/2-3, and public health nurses reported their worries about the children and dyads and the need for extra services. The 'risk group' mothers were assessed as the least sensitive and most unresponsive, and their children as the least co-operative and most passive. Also, the public health nurses were most often worried about the 'risk group' dyads and children. They arranged extra well-baby clinic visits and wished to have supervision for themselves in dealing with the risk group dyads. An unexpected finding was that the 'risk group' mothers reported fewer child behavioural problems than mothers in the 'moderate problem group'. In conclusion, unresponsive mothers may see their children differently than do professionals, and this discrepancy makes both screening and preventive work more challenging. Use of multiple informants and observations is essential when assessing this age group.