title: Subclinical levels of maternal depression and infant sensitivity to social contingency.
abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate how young infants respond to contingent and non-contingent interaction in relation to maternal level of depressive symptoms in a non-clinical sample of mothers and infants. Two groups of three-month-olds interacted with their mother who was assessed as either non-depressed or sub-clinically depressed, based on self-reported scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). The infants were presented with a continuous image and voice of their mother in a closed circuit computer system, using the double video procedure. The experiment comprised five sequences, alternating between contingent (Live) and non-contingent (Replay) maternal behaviur in a fixed Live1-Replay1-Live2-Replay2-Live3 sequence. The infants of the sub-clinically depressed mothers showed a high gaze focus at their mother independently of the quality of interaction, while the infants of the non-depressed mothers showed a preference for looking at the mother only when the interaction with their mother was contingent. Further, the infants of the sub-clinically depressed mothers showed no differentiation in affective expression between contingent and non-contingent interactions, while the infants of the non-depressed mothers expressed more positive affect than negative affect only when the interaction with their mother was contingent. Finally, there was a significant relation between the infant's preference for looking at the mother and the infant's amount of positive affect, but this was only found for the infants of the non-depressed. These results indicate that young infants' sensitivity to social contingency is related to maternal level of depression, even in a non-clinical sample. This expands the implications of earlier findings on the impact of maternal depression on infant sensitivity to social contingency, demonstrating that even sub-clinical levels of maternal depression may effect early interaction and child development.
authors.affiliation: Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Uni Health, Uni Research, Bergen, Norway. siv.skotheim@uni.no
authors.forename: Siv
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skotheim
authors.forename: Hanne Cecilie
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Braarud
authors.forename: Kjartan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Høie
authors.forename: Maria Wik
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Markhus
authors.forename: Marian Kjellevold
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Malde
authors.forename: Ingvild Eide
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Graff
authors.forename: Jan Øystein
authors.initials: JØ
authors.lastname: Berle
authors.forename: Kjell Morten
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Stormark
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index