title: Response to Infant Cry in Clinically Depressed and Non-Depressed Mothers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bowlby and Ainsworth hypothesized that maternal responsiveness is displayed in the context of infant distress. Depressed mothers are less responsive to infant distress vocalizations (cry) than non-depressed mothers. The present study focuses on acoustical components of infant cry that give rise to responsive caregiving in clinically depressed (n = 30) compared with non-depressed mothers (n = 30) in the natural setting of the home.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analyses of infant and mother behaviors followed three paths: (1) tests of group differences in acoustic characteristics of infant cry, (2) tests of group differences of mothers' behaviors during their infant's crying, and (3) tree-based modeling to ascertain which variable(s) best predict maternal behaviors during infant cry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) Infants of depressed mothers cried as frequently and for equal durations as infants of non-depressed mothers; however, infants of depressed mothers cried with a higher fundamental frequency (f0) and in a more restricted range of f0. (2) Depressed mothers fed, rocked, and touched their crying infants less than non-depressed mothers, and depressed mothers were less responsive to their infants overall. (3) Novel tree-based analyses confirmed that depressed mothers engaged in less caregiving during their infants' cry and indicated that depressed mothers responded only to cries at higher f0s and shorter durations. Older non-depressed mothers were the most interactive with infants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinical depression affects maternal responsiveness during infant cry, leading to patterns of action that appear poorly attuned to infant needs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Trentino, Italy.|Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9442-0254
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: Westat, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nanmathi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Manian
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Trentino, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Truzzi
authors.affiliation: Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, United States of America.
authors.forename: Marc H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bornstein
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000465:Algorithms; D017028:Caregivers; D003448:Crying; D003863:Depression / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers; D016487:Parenting