Prospective Associations of Mothers' Perinatal Depressive Symptoms and Life Stress with Their Toddlers' Emerging Psychopathology

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Background: Previous research has found that exposure to maternal depression and stress is associated with a range of adverse behavioral outcomes in offspring. Maternal depression is associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors in toddlers and young children (Lahti et al, 2017); similarly, maternal stress is associated with poorer social behavior in toddlers (Lin et al, 2017). However, we know less about how exposure to maternal depression and stress occurring pre- or postnatally is related to offspring outcomes. Such knowledge could help us to develop more targeted strategies to both reduce risk for depression in women and prevent adverse outcomes in their offspring. Given the high prevalence of maternal depression (Ertel et al, 2011) and stress (Kingston et al, 2012) during pregnancy and the year following birth, we examined the prospective associations of mothers’ pre- and postnatal depression and stressful life events with toddlers’ symptoms of psychopathology.

Method: 121 mother-child dyads recruited from the community participated in this longitudinal study. At 6 months postpartum (child mean age=6.14 months, range=4.68-7.52 months; 60 male), mothers retrospectively reported their symptoms of depression during pregnancy (i.e., prenatal depression) using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; Montazeri et al, 2007) and their current symptoms of depression (i.e., postnatal depression) using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977). Researchers interviewed mothers about their exposure to stressful life events during pregnancy and since their infant’s birth using the Life Stressor Checklist-Revised (LSC-R; Wolfe et al, 1997). A panel of coders, blind to mothers’ subjective responses to their stressful life events, rated the objective severity as the summed severity ratings for events that occurred during pregnancy and since their infant’s birth. Approximately 12 months later (child mean age=18.22 months, range=17.53-19.99 months), mothers reported their child’s symptoms of psychopathology using the Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (ITSEA; Carter et al, 2003).

Results: Bivariate correlations indicated that mothers with higher pre- and postnatal depression symptoms (prenatal: r(119)=0.36, p<.001, 95%CI[0.19, 0.51], postnatal: r(119)=0.27, p=.002, 95%CI[0.10, 0.43]) and greater pre- and postnatal stress severity (prenatal: r(119)=0.20, p=.026, 95%CI[0.02, 0.37], postnatal: r(119)=0.20, p=.025, 95%CI[0.03, 0.37]) reported that their children had higher symptoms of psychopathology in toddlerhood. A linear regression including both pre- and postnatal depression indicated that maternal depressive symptoms accounted for nearly 13% of the variance in toddler psychopathology. EPDS scores explained 12%, and CES-D scored explained 1% off the variance. In a separate multiple linear regression, maternal pre- and postnatal stress severity collectively explained 5% of the variance in toddler psychopathology. Finally, maternal prenatal depressive symptoms explained variation in toddler psychopathology (β=0.32, 95%CI[0.12, 0.51]) above and beyond postnatal depression and pre- and postnatal stress severity.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that, while both pre- and postnatal maternal depressive symptoms and stressful experiences are associated with emerging psychopathology in toddlerhood, prenatal depressive symptoms were the single largest predictor of symptoms in toddlerhood. Early identification and treatment of depression during pregnancy may not only benefit women, but if these associations are causal, also could protect their offspring from developing psychopathology.

Authors

• Abigail Elizabeth Graber, Stanford University
  Presenting Author

• Lauren Rebekah Borchers, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lucy Sobey King, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kathryn Humphreys, Vanderbilt University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ian Gotlib, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author