title: Precursors of social emotional functioning among full-term and preterm infants at 12 months: Early infant withdrawal behavior and symptoms of maternal depression.
abstract: This study forms part of a longitudinal investigation of early infant social withdrawal, maternal symptoms of depression and later child social emotional functioning. The sample consisted of a group of full-term infants (N=238) and their mothers, and a group of moderately premature infants (N=64) and their mothers. At 3 months, the infants were observed with the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) and the mothers completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). At 12 months, the mothers filled out questionnaires about the infants' social emotional functioning (Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Social Emotional). At 3 months, as we have previously shown, the premature infants had exhibited more withdrawal behavior and their mothers reported elevated maternal depressive symptoms as compared with the full-born group. At 12 months the mothers of the premature infants reported more child internalizing behavior. These data suggest that infant withdrawal behavior as well as maternal depressive mood may serve as sensitive indices of early risk status. Further, the results suggest that early maternal depressive symptoms are a salient predictor of later child social emotional functioning. However, neither early infant withdrawal behavior, nor gestational age, did significantly predict social emotional outcome at 12 months. It should be noted that the differences in strength of the relations between ADBB and EPDS, respectively, to the outcome at 12 months was modest. An implication of the study is that clinicians should be aware of the complex interplay between early infant withdrawal and signs of maternal postpartum depression in planning ports of entry for early intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; National Network for Infant Mental Health, the Regional Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: vibeke.moe@psykologi.uio.no.
authors.forename: Vibeke
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moe
authors.affiliation: National Network for Infant Mental Health, the Regional Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, Oslo, Norway; Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare West, Uni Research Health, Norway.
authors.forename: Hanne Cecilie
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Braarud
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Center for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, Oslo, Norway; The Regional Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Tore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wentzel-Larsen
authors.affiliation: National Network for Infant Mental Health, the Regional Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Slinning
authors.affiliation: National Network for Infant Mental Health, the Regional Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Unni Tranaas
authors.initials: UT
authors.lastname: Vannebo
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hospital Bichat-Claude Bernard APHP, France, Inserm U 1178 and Université, Denis Diderot Paris Cité, France.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guedeney
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heimann
authors.affiliation: Municipality of Trondheim's Welfare Clinic, Norway.
authors.forename: Anne Margrethe
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rostad
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Full-term and preterm infants; Infant social withdrawal; Maternal depressive symptoms; Social emotional functioning