Perinatal Maternal Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms and Child Executive Function and Attention at Two-years of Age

ABSTRACT

The objective was to investigate whether perinatal maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms predicted child attention and executive function (EF). Mothers (N = 614) reported pregnancy and three-months postnatal anxiety and depressive symptoms. Attention and EF were measured at two-years-of-age. Covariates were demographics, alcohol use, mood disorder history, and pregnancy factors. Higher prenatal anxiety, b(SE) =.020(.005), p<.001, and postnatal depressive symptoms, b(SE) =.009(.004), p=.04, predicted poorer child attention. A prenatal-by-postnatal depressive symptom interaction emerged, b(SE) = −.005(.003), p=.04: When pregnancy depressive symptoms were low, higher postnatal symptoms predicted poorer attention. No distress variables predicted EF, p’s>.22. Perinatal distress timing, kind, and change were important for child attention.

Supplementary material

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this study was provided by Alberta Innovates Health Solutions, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Centre of Excellence AllerGen and Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. Ross was funded by the Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the APrON Study Team, whose individual members are Bonnie J. Kaplan, Catherine J. Field, Rhonda C. Bell, Francois P. Bernier, Marja Cantell, Linda M. Casey, Misha Eliasziw, Anna Farmer, Lisa Gagnon, Laki Goonewardene, David W. Johnston, Libbe Kooistra, Donna P. Manca, Jonathan W. Martin, Linda J. McCargar, Maeve O’Beirne, Victor J. Pop, and Nalini Singhal.

Notes

1. Direction and significance of main effect coefficients were the same regardless of whether interaction terms were entered as a block with main effects or separately in a second, hierarchical regression step. As such, to simplify the reported results, only block models (i.e. all variables entered simultaneously) are reported.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation [N/A]; Alberta Innovates - Health Solutions [N/A]; AllerGen [N/A]; Canadian Institutes of Health Research [N/A].