Maternal prenatal depression, PTSD, and problematic parenting: the mediating role of maternal perceptions of infant emotion

ABSTRACT

Background: Perinatal illness is alarmingly common and has negative effects on maternal and infant well-being. Depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), specifically, are characterised by negative views of the self and others, which may impact a mother’s perceptions of herself and her child.

Objective: This study examined the relationship between depression and PTSD symptoms, maternal perceptions of infant emotions, and parenting behaviours.

Methods: 120 pregnant, mostly low-income women and their infants (after birth) participated in a longitudinal study. Maternal depression and PTSD symptoms were assessed during pregnancy and 1 year postpartum; maternal perceptions of infant emotions and parenting quality were assessed at 1 year.

Results: Correlation analyses revealed significant, negative associations between prenatal (but not postnatal) psychiatric symptoms and positive perceptions of infant emotions, as well as between positive perceptions of infant emotions and negative parenting. Results also revealed significant indirect effects of prenatal depressive and PTSD symptoms on negative parenting via perceptions of infant emotion (95% CIs:.0013 –.0200 and.0008 –.0083, respectively).

Conclusion: Findings highlight that mothers should be routinely screened for psychiatric symptoms during the perinatal period, and perceptions of infant emotions may be an important target for parent-infant mental health interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Maternal depression
• maternal PTSD
• parenting
• infant emotion

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Parenting Project research assistants for their invaluable help with data collection and the families who participated in the study. The authors also appreciate the coding and consulting contributions of Katherine Guyon-Harris, PhD, Kristine Cramer, MS, and Melissa Schwartzmiller, MS.

Disclosure statement

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the home institution and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by grants from the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Office for Research Development at Eastern Michigan University.