Background

Antenatal depression is emerging as a potential risk factor for lower maternal sensitivity during postnatal mother-infant interactions. The present study investigated the relationship between both antenatal and postnatal depression and features of infant directed speech, a key indicator of maternal sensitivity during the first postnatal year.

Methods

Pregnant women with either a clinical diagnosis of Major Depressive disorder (MDD; n = 20) or a history of MDD (n = 26) and a control group (n = 34) were recruited to the study and followed up at two, six and twelve months postpartum. A free-play mother-infant interaction was recorded at each time-point and the lexical and syntactic complexity of the mothers’ speech was measured from the transcript.

Results

No significant group differences were observed at either two, six or twelve months. However, mediation analyses indicated that antenatal depression was indirectly associated with maternal syntactic complexity at two and twelve months through concurrent maternal depression scores.

Limitations

The findings of this study are limited by its small sample size. The sample also comprised predominantly well-resourced women which limits the generalisability of the findings to wider or less advantaged populations.

Conclusions

This study contributes to the emerging evidence base concerning the impact of antenatal depression and postnatal depression on early mother-infant interactive behaviour, specifically infant-directed speech. These findings further highlight the importance of identifying women with antenatal depression in order to support them to engage in therapeutic interventions at the earliest possible opportunity.

中文翻译：

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产后第一年产前抑郁症和母婴定向言语

背景

产前抑郁症正在成为产后母婴互动中降低母体敏感性的潜在风险因素。本研究调查了产前和产后抑郁症与婴儿直接言语特征之间的关系，这是产后第一年母亲敏感度的关键指标。

方法

临床诊断为重度抑郁症 (MDD；n = 20) 或有 MDD 病史 ( n = 26) 的孕妇和对照组 ( n = 34) 被招募到研究中，并在 2、6 和产后十二个月。在每个时间点记录一次自由玩耍的母婴互动，并从记录中测量母亲讲话的词汇和句法复杂性。

结果

在两个月、六个月或十二个月时均未观察到显着的组别差异。然而，中介分析表明，通过并发的母亲抑郁评分，产前抑郁与母亲在 2 个月和 12 个月时的句法复杂性间接相关。

限制

这项研究的结果受到样本量小的限制。样本还主要包括资源丰富的女性，这限制了调查结果对更广泛或弱势群体的普遍性。

结论

这项研究有助于建立关于产前抑郁和产后抑郁对早期母婴互动行为，特别是婴儿直接言语影响的新证据基础。这些发现进一步强调了识别患有产前抑郁症的女性以支持她们尽早参与治疗干预的重要性。