Maternal Prenatal Depressive Symptoms and Infant Sleep Problems: The Role of Infant Temperament and Sex

ABSTRACT

Objectives

We aimed to analyze whether (1) infant temperament mediates the impact of maternal prenatal depressive symptoms on infant sleep problems and (2) the mediation role of infant temperament was moderated by the infant’s sex.

Methods

The sample was comprised of 172 mother-infant dyads. Mothers completed self-reported measures of prenatal and postnatal depressive symptoms, infant temperament (negative affectivity, surgency/extraversion, and orienting regulation), and sleep problems.

Results

While controlling for maternal postnatal depressive symptoms, our results revealed that (1) infant negative affectivity at two weeks partially mediated the impact of maternal prenatal depressive symptoms on sleep anxiety at six months, and (2) this mediation is independent of the infant’s sex.

Conclusions

Our findings provided evidence that negative affectivity can be an early specific marker of sleep anxiety and can partially explain the negative impact of maternal prenatal depressive symptoms on further sleep problems in the infant.

Acknowledgments

This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement, under Grant: POCI- 01-0145-FEDER-007653. This research was supported by the FEDER Funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade - COMPETE and by National Funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia under Grant: PTDC/SAU/SAP/116738/2010 and by PhD Grants: SFRH/BD/113005/2015 and SFRH/BD/115048/2016. The sponsors had no further role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [PTDC/SAU/SAP/116738/2010,SFRH/BD/113005/2015,SFRH/BD/115048/2016].