Poster #146 - Maternal Depression and Responsiveness to Social Bids as Predictors of Vocabulary Size in 12-Month-Old Infants

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Maternal responsiveness is mothers’ sensitivity in responding to children’s bids for attention. Individual differences in caregiver responsiveness predict language outcomes. For example, responsiveness to children’s bids predicts receptive vocabulary size at 36 months (Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2004, 2014). Mothers with postnatal depression show qualitatively different patterns of responsiveness to infant bids for attention compared to non-depressed mothers (Milgrom et al., 2004). Compared to non-depressed mothers, interactions between depressed mothers and their infants are characterized by lower rates of responsiveness, greater criticism and disengagement, and less warmth (Cox et al., 1987; Field et al., 1990). Maternal depression is associated with lower maternal responsiveness, which results in lower school readiness and verbal comprehension scores by 36 months (Early Child Care Research Network, 1999).
Previous research has assessed relations between maternal depression and responsiveness in young infants, but relations with outcomes were not assessed until toddlerhood. The current study assesses relations with child vocabulary outcomes at a younger age. We expect that higher maternal depression will be associated with lower maternal responsiveness to social bids, as well as smaller receptive vocabulary size in 12-month-olds.
Twenty-four 12-month-old infants and their mothers participated in an eight-minute free-play interaction. Videos of interactions were coded for (1) infant bids: frequency of infant attempts to engage their mother in social interaction, and (2) maternal responsiveness: proportion of bids accepted. Bids were considered accepted when the mother followed the infant’s lead (or rejected when the mother either ignored or redirected the infant’s attempts at engagement). Mothers completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression, a 20-item depression scale (Radloff, 1977), and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, a parent-report vocabulary checklist (Fenson et al., 2007).
On average, infants produced 8.18 social bids (SD=3.83), and mothers accepted 73.8% of infant bids (SD=24.9%). Average maternal depression was 6.5 (SD=5.69), with just two mothers exceeding the clinical at-risk cut-off of 16. Average infant receptive vocabulary size was 67.71 words (SD=62.23). As expected, maternal depression was negatively related to both maternal responsiveness (r=-.542, p=.009), and infant receptive vocabulary (r=-.446, p=.043). However, maternal responsiveness and infant vocabulary were unrelated (p=.48).
The present study replicates and extends previous research by demonstrating that maternal depression has negative effects on children’s vocabulary development and mother’s responsiveness to infant bids. Relations between maternal depression and children’s vocabulary are evident by 12-months, earlier in development than previously demonstrated. Surprisingly, we found no relation between maternal responsiveness and infant receptive vocabulary size. However, it should be noted that our sample size was limited, with N=24. Findings suggest that the previously-documented relations between maternal responsiveness and vocabulary (e.g., Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2004) may emerge gradually across early development and become apparent after the age of 12-months. This ongoing project will examine relations among these variables in a larger, longitudinal sample.

Authors

• Kaitlyn Testa, Florida International University
  Presenting Author

• Myriah E McNew, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Author

• James Torrence Todd, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lorraine E Bahrick, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Author