title: Predicting adolescent postpartum caregiving from trajectories of depression and anxiety prior to childbirth: a 5-year prospective study.
abstract: Symptoms of depression and anxiety in pregnancy have been linked to later impaired caregiving. However, mood symptoms are often elevated in pregnancy and may reflect motherhood-specific concerns. In contrast, little is known about the effects of prepregnancy depression and anxiety on postpartum caregiving. Understanding these developmental risk factors is especially important when childbearing also occurs during adolescence. The sample comprised 188 adolescent mothers (ages 12-19 years) who had participated in a longitudinal study since childhood. Mothers were observed in face-to-face interaction with the infant at 4 months postpartum, and caregiving behaviors (sensitivity, hostile-intrusive behavior, and mental state talk) were coded independently. Data on self-reported depression and anxiety gathered in the 5 years prior to childbirth were drawn from the large-scale longitudinal study. Parallel process latent growth curve models revealed unique effects of distal anxiety and slow decline in anxiety over time on lower levels of maternal mental state talk after accounting for the overlap with depression development. Depressive symptoms showed significant stability from distal measurement to the postpartum period, but only concurrent postpartum mood was associated with poorer quality of maternal speech. The results highlight specific targets for well-timed preventive interventions with vulnerable dyads.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. hipwae@upmc.edu.
authors.forename: Alison E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Hipwell
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Stepp
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Eydie L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Moses-Kolko
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Shuangyan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Merrick
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McClelland
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Verble
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Keenan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescent mothers; Anxiety; Depression; Maternal caregiving; Prospective; Risk factors