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Maternal social support, depression and emotional availability in early mother-infant interaction: Findings from a pregnancy cohort
- Source :
- Journal of Affective Disorders. 292:757-765
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Background Social support theory suggests that parental social support may influence the nature of early parenting behaviours and specifically the mother-infant relationship. This study examines whether support from a partner, friends or family is associated with differences in quality of mother-infant interactions in the context of maternal depression. Methods 210 women were followed from early pregnancy to six months postpartum within Australian pregnancy cohort, the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS). Mother-infant interactions within a standardised observation at six months postpartum were measured by the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales using total scores of the parental scales. In early and late pregnancy and at six months postpartum, mothers rated perceived maternal social support from a partner, family and friends using subscales of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Depression was measured in early pregnancy and at six months postpartum using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV-TR, with repeated measurement of depressive symptoms by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Data was analysed using structural equation models. Results There were significant interactions between depressive symptoms in early pregnancy and perceived maternal support from a partner (B = .18, 95% CI = 03, .31) and separately from family (B = .12, 95% CI = .03, .32) in predicting maternal emotional availability. No such interaction was found for support from friends. While partner and family support moderated the association between early depressive symptoms and emotional availability, there were no direct associations between maternal depressive disorder in early pregnancy and perceived support, and further, maternal depression was not a significant predictor of emotional availability. Limitations Future studies should consider extending measurement of the mother-infant relationship beyond the EA Scales, inclusion of a measure of maternal childhood trauma, and replicating our findings. Conclusion Maternal perception of partner and family support in the postpartum is a predictor of the association between early pregnancy depressive symptoms and maternal emotional availability.
- Subjects :
- Family support
Mothers
Context (language use)
Structural equation modeling
Depression, Postpartum
03 medical and health sciences
Social support
0302 clinical medicine
Pregnancy
Humans
Medicine
Depression (differential diagnoses)
Depression
business.industry
Postpartum Period
Australia
Infant
Social Support
medicine.disease
Mother-Child Relations
030227 psychiatry
Psychiatry and Mental health
Clinical Psychology
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale
Cohort
Female
business
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Clinical psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 01650327
- Volume :
- 292
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....256d3843f6e0b692d345b531c3398c5b