Poster #143 - Maternal depression, breastfeeding, and alcohol intake: Associations to maternal sensitivity and infant cognition

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Promoting early child development is a public health concern across the world (Richter, 2001). High maternal sensitivity has been consistently linked to better child development outcomes, both in the immediate, and the long term (Bornstein, 1985, Cabrera, et al. 2011, Landry et al, 2012, Sameroff, et al., 1987). Although previous research has established that exposure to high maternal sensitivity advances the outcome of infant cognitive development, breastfeeding, a variable hypothesized to confound the association (Fonseca, et al., 2013, Kraemer, 2008), and depression, a variable negatively associated with maternal sensitivity (Crockenberg & Leerkes, 2003, Shin, Park, & Kim, 2006), have not yet been examined together in a single study). Also, maternal alcohol use, associated with both breastfeeding and depression, has not been examined in any study investigating the sensitivity-cognitive development association.
This study addresses these gaps and investigates the association of three factors: (1) maternal depressive symptomology, (2) breastfeeding and (3) concurrent maternal alcohol intake upon outcomes of (1) Maternal Sensitivity and (2) Infant Cognitive Development, as well as their effect on the association between senstivity and cognitive development.
Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth (ECLS-B) Cohort, a nationally representative sample of U.S. born children, depressive symptomology was evaluated as an effect-modifier, and breastfeeding, were evaluated as confounders of the sensitivity-cognitive development association. Maternal alcohol use was also hypothesized to be a confounder of the sensitivity-cognitive association. Univariate and multi-variable regression analyses were used to examine whether the four maternal factors were associated with Maternal Sensitivity, measured by the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS), and with Cognitive Development, measured by the Bayley Scale of Infant Development, Research Edition (BSF-R). Multiple Regression models were adjusted for several demographic characteristics and covariates such as infant’s birth weight.
In univariate analyses, breastfeeding, depressive symptomology and alcohol use were associated with maternal sensitivity but only breastfeeding and depressive symptomology were associated with Cognitive Development In a final model examining the effect of sensitivity, depressive symptomology and breastfeeding upon the outcome of Cognitive Development, sensitivity (β =.375, p<.001) remained significantly associated with cognitive development after adjusting for breastfeeding (β =1.592, p<.001) and depressive symptomology (β =-.061), p<.05), demographic factors and birthweight (R2=.053, p<.001). Depressive symptomology was not an effect modifier of the sensitivity-cognitive developmental association.
This research demonstrates that an independent association between maternal sensitivity and infant cognitive development remains even after adjusting for breastfeeding. Results also showed breastfeeding is an additional and separate means to advanced infant cognitive development. Findings highlight the importance of screening for sensitivity in clinical settings.

Authors

• P. Nina Banerjee, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
  Presenting Author

• Karen McFadden, Brooklyn College, The City University of New York (CUNY)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jacqueline D. Shannon, Brooklyn College, CUNY
  Non-Presenting Author