Depression in the early postpartum period and attachment to children—in mothers of NICU infants

Abstract

Depression in early puerperium was evaluated in terms of maternal attachment in mothers of children admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in comparison to a control group of mothers of full-term infants. A survey including Zung's self-rating depression scale (ZSDS), a postpartum maternal attachment scale and items addressing the mother's feelings and peripheral conditions was conducted on mothers of children admitted to the NICU. Among the 153 mothers who gave valid responses, positive ZSDS scores of over 40 were seen in 61.8%. In terms of the children's disorder, strong depressive tendency was noted among mothers of low birth weight infants. Significant correlation was noted between the ZSDS and the 'core maternal attachment' (negative correlation) and 'anxiety regarding children' (positive correlation) subscales of postpartum maternal attachment. Path analysis revealed the father's positive reaction in learning of the pregnancy resulted in elevation of the 'core maternal attachment' score, in contrast to the control group mothers.

Predictors of Emotional and Behavioral Problems in 1‐year‐old Children: A Longitudinal Perspective

“…Maternal postpartum attachment was measured via the Postpartum Maternal Attachment Scale (Nagata, Nagai, Sobajima, Anda, & Honjo, ), which consists of “Core maternal attachment” (11 items) and “Anxiety regarding children“(eight items) subscales. Cronbach's α for the Core Maternal Attachment subscale was 0.57; for the Anxiety Regarding Children subscale, it was 0.58.…”

A review of partner‐inclusive interventions for preventing postnatal depression and anxiety

“…Childbirth is widely seen as a cause for joy and happiness. Nonetheless, the transition to parenthood is also associated with fatigue and stress as it requires significant adjustment to new roles and responsibilities (Nagata, Nagai, Sobajima, Ando, & Honjo, ). New parents are vulnerable to mood problems as they adapt to this major life event.…”

Attachment Assessment in treatments, prevention and intervention programs

“…A plethora of research has documented negative associations between maternal psychopathology and child psychological wellbeing (Downey and Coyne, 1990;Cummings and Davies, 1994;Seifer and Dickstein, 2000;Burstein et al, 2012). This field of research has been dominated by studies on maternal depression showing its detrimental effect on mother-child relationship and child healthy development (Downey and Coyne, 1990;Campbell et al, 1992Campbell et al, , 1995Beck, 1995;Murray et al, 1999;Edhborg et al, 2001;Nagata et al, 2004;Toth et al, 2009;McCabe, 2014). Maternal depression has been empirically linked to lower levels of attachment security (Lyons-Ruth et al, 1990;Lyons-Ruth et al, 1990;Murray, 1992;Teti et al, 1995;Gotlib, 1999, 2002;Lyons-Martins and Gaffan, 2000) and diminished maternal sensitivity connected to the nature of depressive symptoms has been accounted to mediate this association (Ammaniti et al, 2007).…”