Poster #125 - The Impact of Postpartum Depression on Gaze Following: A Swedish-Zimbabwean Cross-Cultural Study

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Gaze following, the ability to synchronize visual attention with others, is a hallmark of social development. It allows infants to learn about their surroundings and provides a foundation for developing higher cognitive abilities (Zuberbühler, 2008). An increased interest in understanding children’s social context and its effect on development led us to investigate the role of maternal mental health on infants’ gaze following (Astor et al., 2020). We could demonstrate that Swedish infants of depressed mothers engaged in less gaze following, likely due to reduced quality and/or quantity of mother-infant interactions, typical for postpartum depression (Field, 1995; Forbes et al., 2004). However, there is a concern that studies such as Astor et al. (2020), on the one hand, are conducted in Western contexts while, on the other, formulate theoretical models that claim universality. Consequently, research that transitions from Western to Majority World contexts is in demand (Astor & Gredebäck, 2022; Bard et al., 2021; Hernik & Broesch, 2019). To meet this demand, we conducted a similar study in Bhutan, a country with more interdependent cultural elements than a typical Western country (Astor et al., 2022). In contrast to what we found in Sweden, Bhutanese infants’ tendency to follow gaze was not related to maternal postpartum depression. We hypothesized that cultural factors, such as family structure/social network, might explain this discrepancy. In other words, we believe that a more extensive social network mitigates the adverse effect of postpartum depression on infants’ gaze following. However, Astor et al. (2022) was conducted as a proof of concept study and not designed to answer how specific culture-related factors might interact with postpartum depression to shape infants’ development.

The current work, conducted in Sweden and Zimbabwe, specifically targets this question. First, we expect postpartum depression to correlate negatively with gaze following (conceptually replicating Astor et al., 2020). Then, according to the hypothesis formulated by Astor et al. (2022), we expect the size of the mothers’ social network/social support - to moderate the association between postpartum depression and gaze following and explain eventual differences between Sweden and Zimbabwe (differences that we expect to see based on the results from Sweden and Bhutan, Astor et al., 2022).

This study is a collaboration between the University of Zimbabwe and Uppsala university (Sweden) and targets 400 mother-infant dyads at 9 months (N = 200 in Sweden and Zimbabwe respectively). Infants first complete a standard eye-tracking procedure to assess gaze following (see Figure 1). Then the infant’s mother completes a structured interview, including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (Cox et al., 1987), questions about family structure, social support and activities, and economic situation.

The data collection is ongoing and will continue until the end of 2022 (no additional data will be collected after this time). We already have data from 120 participants in Sweden, and in parallel, our Zimbabwe team has all the approvals needed to start data collection on October 5th 2022.

Authors

• Kim Astor, Uppsala universitet
  Presenting Author

• Linda Van Den Berg

• SAMSON MHIZHA, University of Zimbabwe

• Gustaf Gredebäck, Uppsala universitet