Prepartum, postpartum and chronic depression effects on neonatal behavior

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2005.02.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Eighty pregnant women were assessed for depression during mid-pregnancy (Mean gestational age = 25.9 weeks) and shortly after delivery in order to assess the effects of the onset and chronicity of maternal depression on neonatal behavior. The women were classified as reporting depressive symptoms: (1) only during the prepartum assessment; (2) only during the postpartum assessment; (3) during both the prepartum and postpartum assessments; or (4) reporting no depressive symptoms at either the prepartum or the postpartum assessment. Neonates born to mothers reporting symptoms of depression at any time point exhibited greater indeterminate sleep than neonates of non-depressed mothers. Neonates born to mothers reporting prenatal depression spent more time fussing and crying and exhibited more stress behaviors than neonates born to non-depressed mothers or neonates born to mothers exhibiting symptoms of depression only during the postpartum assessment. Finally, neonates born to mothers exhibiting symptoms of depression during both the prepartum and postpartum assessments exhibited less optimal Brazelton neurobehavioral assessment scores than neonates of non-depressed mothers or neonates born to mothers who exhibited symptoms of depression during only the prepartum or only during the postpartum assessments. Taken together these findings suggest that neonatal behavior is influenced not just by the presence but also by the timing and duration of maternal depression symptoms.

Section snippets

Prepartum, postpartum and chronic depression effects on neonatal behavior

Maternal depression has negative effects on infant behavior and physiology (Dawson, Panagiotides, Grofer Klinger, & Spieker, 1997; Field, 1995). Evidence for these effects has emerged as early as the prenatal period in some studies. For example, fetuses of depressed mothers show elevated resting heart rates (Allister, Lester, Carr, & Liu, 2001), greater activity levels (Dieter et al., in press) and increased physiological reactivity (Monk, Myers, Sloan, Ellman, & Fifer, 2003). Prenatal

Participants

Pregnant women were recruited during mid-pregnancy (Mean gestational age = 25.9 weeks; S.D. = 1.39; range = 23–27 weeks) from an ultrasound clinic at a university hospital. In order to control for fluctuations in depressed mood across pregnancy (Buckwalter et al., 1999; Hoffman & Hatch, 2000; Ritter, Hobfoll, Lavin, Cameron, & Hulsizer, 2000), we conducted the prepartum assessments within a narrow time period (23–27 weeks GA) during mid-gestation. The postpartum assessment was conducted within two

Demographics

Chi-square tests and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted on the demographic variables. The groups did not differ on the demographic variables (see Table 1).

Maternal depression

A group (depressed/non-depressed) by observation period (prepartum/postpartum) repeated measures ANOVA on CES-D scores revealed a significant group by observation period interaction (F(3, 76) = 27.52, p < 0.001). This interaction was followed by Bonferroni corrected t-tests revealing the following (Table 2): (1) postpartum depressed

Discussion

Consistent with previous findings (Field et al., 2004, Jones et al., 1998), neonates of depressed mothers exhibited greater indeterminate sleep than neonates born to non-depressed mothers. Indeterminate sleep, a measure of sleep continuity, is an early marker of biobehavioral organization (Thoman, 1990) and has been found to relate to future cognitive function including performance on the Bayley mental scale at 6 and 12 months (Anders, Keener, & Kraemer, 1985) and IQ scores at 12 years (Sigman

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the mother-infant dyads who participated in this study. This research was supported by an NIMH Research Scientist Award (#MH00331), and an NIMH research Grant (#MH46586) to Tiffany Field, Ph.D., and funding from Johnson and Johnson.

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