Effects of maternal depression on maternal responsiveness and infants' expressive language abilities

Ruth Brookman; Marina Kalashnikova; Penny Levickis; Janet Conti; Nan Xu Rattanasone; Kerry-Ann Grant; Katherine Demuth; Denis Burnham

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0277762

Effects of maternal depression on maternal responsiveness and infants' expressive language abilities

Ruth Brookman^*, Marina Kalashnikova, Penny Levickis, Janet Conti, Nan Xu Rattanasone, Kerry-Ann Grant, Katherine Demuth, Denis Burnham

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

High levels of maternal responsiveness are associated with healthy cognitive and emotional development in infants. However, depression and anxiety can negatively impact individual mothers' responsiveness levels and infants' expressive language abilities. Australian mother-infant dyads (N = 48) participated in a longitudinal study examining the effect of maternal responsiveness (when infants were 9- and 12-months), and maternal depression and anxiety symptoms on infant vocabulary size at 18-months. Global maternal responsiveness ratings were stronger predictors of infants' vocabulary size than levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. However, depression levels moderated the effect of maternal responsiveness on vocabulary size. These results highlight the importance of screening for maternal responsiveness-in addition to depression-to identify infants who may be at developmental risk. Also, mothers with elevated depression need support to first reduce their symptoms so that improvements in their responsiveness have the potential to be protective for their infant's language acquisition.

Original language	English
Article number	e0277762
Pages (from-to)	1-20
Number of pages	20
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	18
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277762
Publication status	Published - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

Community-based sample
Postpartum depression
2nd year
Young-children
Mental-health
Anxiety
Sensitivity
Symptoms
Mothers
Vocabulary

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10.1371/journal.pone.0277762Licence: CC BY

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 665 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Effects of maternal depression on maternal responsiveness and infants' expressive language abilities",

abstract = "High levels of maternal responsiveness are associated with healthy cognitive and emotional development in infants. However, depression and anxiety can negatively impact individual mothers' responsiveness levels and infants' expressive language abilities. Australian mother-infant dyads (N = 48) participated in a longitudinal study examining the effect of maternal responsiveness (when infants were 9- and 12-months), and maternal depression and anxiety symptoms on infant vocabulary size at 18-months. Global maternal responsiveness ratings were stronger predictors of infants' vocabulary size than levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. However, depression levels moderated the effect of maternal responsiveness on vocabulary size. These results highlight the importance of screening for maternal responsiveness-in addition to depression-to identify infants who may be at developmental risk. Also, mothers with elevated depression need support to first reduce their symptoms so that improvements in their responsiveness have the potential to be protective for their infant's language acquisition.",

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AU - Levickis, Penny

AU - Conti, Janet

AU - Rattanasone, Nan Xu

AU - Grant, Kerry-Ann

AU - Demuth, Katherine

AU - Burnham, Denis

N1 - Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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N2 - High levels of maternal responsiveness are associated with healthy cognitive and emotional development in infants. However, depression and anxiety can negatively impact individual mothers' responsiveness levels and infants' expressive language abilities. Australian mother-infant dyads (N = 48) participated in a longitudinal study examining the effect of maternal responsiveness (when infants were 9- and 12-months), and maternal depression and anxiety symptoms on infant vocabulary size at 18-months. Global maternal responsiveness ratings were stronger predictors of infants' vocabulary size than levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. However, depression levels moderated the effect of maternal responsiveness on vocabulary size. These results highlight the importance of screening for maternal responsiveness-in addition to depression-to identify infants who may be at developmental risk. Also, mothers with elevated depression need support to first reduce their symptoms so that improvements in their responsiveness have the potential to be protective for their infant's language acquisition.

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Effects of maternal depression on maternal responsiveness and infants' expressive language abilities

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Neural and behavioural evidence for children's learning of grammatical morphology

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Effects of maternal depression on maternal responsiveness and infants' expressive language abilities

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Neural and behavioural evidence for children's learning of grammatical morphology

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