title: Maternal postpartum depressive symptoms predict delay in non-verbal communication in 14-month-old infants.
abstract: We investigated the potential relationship between maternal depressive symptoms during the postpartum period and non-verbal communication skills of infants at 14 months of age in a birth cohort study of 951 infants and assessed what factors may influence this association. Maternal depressive symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and non-verbal communication skills were measured using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, which include Early Gestures and Later Gestures domains. Infants whose mothers had a high level of depressive symptoms (13+ points) during both the first month postpartum and at 10 weeks were approximately 0.5 standard deviations below normal in Early Gestures scores and 0.5-0.7 standard deviations below normal in Later Gestures scores. These associations were independent of potential explanations, such as maternal depression/anxiety prior to birth, breastfeeding practices, and recent depressive symptoms among mothers. These findings indicate that infants whose mothers have postpartum depressive symptoms may be at increased risk of experiencing delay in non-verbal development.
authors.affiliation: United Graduate School of Child Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Emiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.affiliation: United Graduate School of Child Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takagai
authors.affiliation: United Graduate School of Child Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan; Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Nori
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takei
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Naohiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kanayama
authors.affiliation: United Graduate School of Child Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan; Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan. Electronic address: tsuchiya@hama-med.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kenji J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000523:psychology; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009633:Nonverbal Communication / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000523:psychology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Birth cohort study; Gesture; Language; MacArthur-Bates communicative development inventory; Non-verbal communication; Postpartum depression