An exploratory study of the relationship between mother–infant interaction and maternal cognitive function in mothers with mental illness

Abstract

There is evidence for a deleterious effect of maternal mental illness on motherinfant interaction. Presence of mental illness and lowered maternal cognitive function independently predict quality of interaction, but their combined effect on interaction is unclear. A pilot study was conducted to explore the relationship between maternal serious mental illness (SMI), cognitive function, and mother-infant interaction. Six mothers with SMI (two with schizophrenia and four with depression) and 12 mothers with no psychiatric history were recruited, together with their infants (all aged between 5 and 18 weeks). Mother-infant

The impact of parents’ mental health on parent–baby interaction: A prospective study

“…Similarly Kemppinen, Kumpulainen, Moilanen and Ebeling (2006) found that 75% of mothers who were identified as being "at risk" in lack of sensitivity towards their infant 6 to 8 weeks postpartum, also reported depressive symptoms. Evidence shows that depressed mothers are less sensitive towards their babies (Murray et al, 1996;Steadman et al, 2007), being more intrusive or withdrawn (Black et al, 2007;Field, Hernandez-Reif & Diego, 2006;Herrera, Reissland & Shephard, 2004;) and less accurate in interpreting their baby's emotions (Broth, Goodman, Hall & Raynor, 2004). Similarly paternal depression has been associated with a less optimal father -infant relationship (Field, Hossain & Malphurs, 1999;Field, 2010; for a review, see Wilson & Durbin, 2010) with examples of less involvement with their child (Roggman, Boyce, Cook & Cook, 2002).…”

“…The quality of the early dyadic interaction between the primary caregiver and baby is important for the child's socio-emotional, cognitive, language and brain development (Hay & Pawlby, 2003;Murray, FioriCowley, Hooper & Cooper, 1996;Trevarthen & Aitken, 2001), for the formation of secure attachment (Steadman et al, 2007;Crittenden, 1995;Tomlinson, Cooper & Murray, 2005) and the child's future mental health (Skovgaard et al, 2008). A failure to establish a satisfactory early parent-baby relationship may also put the baby at risk of child abuse and neglect (Scannapieco & Connell-Carrick, 2005).…”

Theory of mind as a predictor of maternal sensitivity in women with severe mental illness

“…Goodman & Brumley, 1990;Riordan et al 1999;Hipwell et al 2000;Albertsson-Karlgren et al 2001;Steadman et al 2007;Wan et al 2007), although it is not always clear whether the effect of gender was examined in these papers. This has not been reported in other studies focusing on mother-infant interaction within a mental health sample (e.g.…”

Attachment and Caregiver–infant Interaction: A Review of Observational‐assessment Tools

“…The CARE‐Index has a high degree of stability and has been validated with families of different ethnic backgrounds (Crittenden & Bonvillian, ). The CARE‐Index has been used in numerous studies with a wide variety of maternal samples, including deaf mothers, mothers with mental retardation, abusive mothers, neglectful mothers (DiLalla & Crittenden, ), adolescent mothers (Ward & Carlson, ), low‐income mothers (Fuertes, Faria, Soares, & Crittenden, ), and mothers with psychiatric disorders (Leadbeater, Bishop, & Raver, ; Leventhal, Jacobsen, Miller, & Quintana, ; Mullick, Miller, & Jacobsen, ; Steadman et al., ). The CARE‐Index also has been utilized with high‐risk children such as premature infants (Forcada‐Guex, Pierrehumbert, Borghini, Moessinger, & Muller‐Nix, ), infants with failure to thrive (Crittenden, ; Ward, Kessler, & Altman, ), and maltreated infants (Crittenden & DiLalla, ).…”