Approximately 10 to 15% of new mothers experience postpartum depression. Different studies have reported that the behavior of mothers with a postpartum depression towards their child is different...Show moreApproximately 10 to 15% of new mothers experience postpartum depression. Different studies have reported that the behavior of mothers with a postpartum depression towards their child is different from the behavior of mothers without depressive symptoms. The aberrant behavior of mothers with a postpartum depression can lead to negative outcomes for their child in the field of social, emotional, cognitive and physical development. The purpose of this study was to gain more information about the behavior of mothers with depressive symptoms towards their child. The ‘Still Face Procedure’ has been used to examine whether depressive symptoms of mothers in the postpartum period influence the amount of sensitive and intrusive behavior towards their child and positive interaction with their child during a neutral situation (‘Play episode’) and a more stressful situation (‘Reunion episode’). Furthermore, this study examined if mothers with depressive symptoms behaved differently during the ‘Play episode’ compared to the ‘Reunion episode’. Participants were 143 mothers from 17 to 25 years old recruited for a bigger research of Leiden University: ‘Een Goed Begin’. ‘Een Goed Begin’ examines parenting skills and child development using five separate measurements during the period from pregnancy until the child is two and a half years old. When the children were six months old, the ‘Still Face Procedure’ was carried out. The amount of depressive symptoms has been examined at the same time with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II-NL). Against expectations, mothers with depressive symptoms did not show less sensitivity, more intrusiveness or less positive interaction than mothers without depressive symptoms in both episodes. Mothers with depressive symptoms showed significantly more positive interaction during the ‘Play episode’ than during the ‘Reunion episode’, but for sensitivity and intrusiveness no significant differences were found. Probably more significant differences will be found with a clinical depressed group of participants.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
2019-07-19T00:00:00Z
Problems with emotion regulation in childhood are related to negative child outcomes later in life, such as behavior problems. Because parents play an essential role by assisting their infant to...Show moreProblems with emotion regulation in childhood are related to negative child outcomes later in life, such as behavior problems. Because parents play an essential role by assisting their infant to develop the ability to regulate their emotions, the purpose of this study was to gain deeper understanding of the relation between maternal behavior and infants’ behavioral and physiological emotional reactivity and emotion regulation. 66 mother-infant dyads participated in two stress paradigms: the still-face paradigm was conducted at 6 months of age and the child was exposed to the robot paradigm at 12 months of age. During the stress paradigms infants’ behavioral reactivity, self-soothing behavior, heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were examined. Maternal sensitivity and maternal intrusiveness were observed during a free play task at the 6-month appointment. Overall, the infants showed behavioral and physiological arousal and regulation during stress. Although no effect of maternal intrusiveness was found, the 6-month-old infants of mothers judged as more sensitive showed more emotional reactivity, indicated by a greater increase in negative affect and heart rate than infants of less sensitive mothers. These infants also showed more physiological regulation, indicated by a greater decrease in RSA during stress than infants of less sensitive mothers. The stability of emotional reactivity and emotion regulation between 6 and 12 months was low: only the difference in RSA from stress to recovery was modestly stable. It is concluded that maternal behavior has an effect on the development of infants’ emotional reactivity and emotion regulation Future studies should further investigate the environmental characteristics influencing the development of emotion regulation in children using longitudinal designs.Show less
