Maternal postnatal depression and anxiety and their association with child emotional negativity and behavior problems at two years.

Abstract

Postnatal maternal depression is associated with poorer child emotional and behavioral functioning, but it is unclear whether this occurs following brief episodes or only with persistent depression. Little research has examined the relation between postnatal anxiety and child outcomes. The present study examined the role of postnatal major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptom chronicity on children’s emotional and behavioral functioning at 24 months. Following postnatal screening mothers (n = 296) were identified as having MDD, GAD, MDD and GAD, or no disorder at 3 months postnatal; the average age was 32.3 (SD = 5.0), 91.9% self-identified as Caucasian, and 62.2% were married. Maternal disorder symptom severity was assessed by questionnaires and structured interview at 3, 6, 10, 14, and 24 months postpartum. At 24 months, child emotional negativity and behavior were assessed using questionnaires and by direct observation. Latent trait–state-occasion modeling was used to represent maternal disorder symptom chronicity; both stable trait and time-specific occasion portions of maternal symptomatology were examined in relation to child outcomes. Only the stable trait portion of maternal MDD and GAD symptom severity were related to maternal report of child behavior problems and higher levels of emotional negativity. Persistent maternal MDD, but not GAD, symptom severity was related to higher levels of child emotional negativity as measured observationally. These data suggest that children’s behavior problems and emotional negativity are adversely affected by persistent maternal depression, and possibly anxiety. This has implications for interventions to prevent negative effects of postnatal psychopathology on children.

Infant Behavior and Competence Following Prenatal Exposure to a Natural Disaster: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study

“…While this may reflect the influence of maternal negative mood on ratings of child behavior, exposure to a natural disaster during pregnancy is associated with increased maternal depressive symptoms up to 2.5 years after the event (Brock et al., ), and greater objective hardship from the floods was associated with higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms at 16 months postpartum in the present sample. Substantial evidence suggests that maternal depression is associated with more offspring behavioral problems during infancy and early childhood (Bayer, Hiscock, Ukoumunne, Price, & Wake, ; Gjerde et al., ; Prenoveau et al., ). Accordingly, it is possible that the impact of flood‐related PNMS on infant behavior may have operated by altering the postnatal environment, reflected in concurrent maternal mental health (Barker et al., ; Rice et al., ).…”

Maternal exposure to violence and offspring neurodevelopment: A systematic review

“…Prenatal factors that are associated with neurodevelopmental difficulties include poor maternal mental health, illness or substance use and birth outcomes such as preterm or low birthweight . These need to be considered along with some post‐birth risks such as continued IPV, postnatal depression and possible aspects of feeding and parenting …”

Course of major depressive disorder after pregnancy and the postpartum period

“…When assessing neurodevelopment and psychopathology in children, it is imperative to consider that maternal psychiatric disorders expressed during the child's early years possibly eclipses other variables, including medication exposures during pregnancy. Notably, postpartum depression and maternal depression have been demonstrated to almost globally affect child development (Drury, Scaramella, & Zeanah, ; Netsi et al., ; Prenoveau et al., ; Sanger, Iles, Andrew, & Ramchandani, ; Surkan, Patel, & Rahman, ; Tronick & Reck, ; Weissman et al., ). Children with depressed mothers are at higher risk for attachment problems, behavioral problems, poor cognitive functioning, worse academic performance, and psychopathology (Goodman et al., ; Murray et al., ; Shen et al., ).…”