The Role of Maternal Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety on the Development of Infant’s Self-Regulation - A prospective longitudinal Study

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

INTRODUCTION
Self-regulation is a fundamental precondition for mental and physical health as well as overall life success. As self-regulation includes the ability to monitor and manage thinking, attention, emotions and behavior in a way to accomplish one’s goals, the development of an adaptive self-regulation is one of the most important developmental tasks in the first years of life. On the other hand, dysfunctional self-regulation has been shown to result in an increased risk of behavioral problems, poor performance at school or working place, rejection by the social environment, physical health problems or mental disorders.
Since even newborns already show first self-regulation attempts, the prenatal environment and the role of pregnancy-related factors which may affect later self-regulation should be considered during fetal development. One factor potentially playing a critical role is prenatal maternal psychopathology.
Although there is a general consensus on the multidimensionality of the construct ‘self-regulation’ and its etiology, evidence on the specific predictors and risk factors for self-regulation deficits remain to be determined. Furthermore, a simultaneous examination of pre- and postnatal factors in the development of infant self-regulation is needed and appropriate prospective longitudinal studies are scarce.
METHODS
The present study explored the effects of maternal pre- and postnatal symptoms of depression and anxiety on the infant’s self-regulation development in a prospective longitudinal design based on data from N=214 mother-infant dyads. Pregnant mothers were recruited from University Gynaecological Hospital Heidelberg from the 20th week of gestation on. Exclusion criteria were a genetic disorder of the unborn child or a multiple pregnancy. Maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety were regularly tested with online questionnaires (EPDS, STAI, PRAQ) applied at 5 prenatal and 3 postnatal assessments. Infant’s self-regulation (crying, feeding, sleeping) was tested at the age of 3 and 6 months postpartum, using the crying-feeding-sleeping questionnaire (SFS).
RESULTS
In total, 11,68% of the participants reached clinically significant depression scores during pregnancy and 13,08% showed scores above the cut off in the postpartum period. Prenatal maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety turned out to be significantly associated with infant regulatory problems. Specifically, prenatal maternal symptoms of depression were positively associated with infant feeding problems (p<.001) and maternal prenatal anxiety showed significant associations with infant crying and sleeping problems (p<.001). Furthermore, maternal pregnancy-related anxiety (assessed in the last trimester of pregnancy) predicted all aspects of self-regulatory problems significantly: infant crying, feeding, and sleeping (p<.001).
Even when controlling for postnatal maternal psychopathological symptoms, prenatal maternal symptoms of depression (p<.001) and pregnancy-related anxiety (p<.001) remained significant predictors of infant feeding problems, whereas infant crying and sleeping problems were predicted by postnatal maternal anxiety only (p<.001). 12.6% of the infants displayed clinically relevant crying/sleeping problems and 18.2% met the clinical cut-off for feeding problems.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that the prenatal environment already plays a substantial role in the development of infant self-regulation abilities in the first months of life. Psychopathology may impact this association even on a subclinical level which underlines the importance of early prevention and intervention for young mothers/families during pregnancy and postpartum.

Authors

• Cornelia E. Schwarze, University of Heidelberg
  Presenting Author

• Sina von der Heiden, Heidelberg University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie Wallwiener, Heidelberg University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sabina M Pauen, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
  Non-Presenting Author