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Predicting maternal sensitivity: The roles of postnatal depressive symptoms and parasympathetic dysregulation
Author(s) -
Musser Erica D.,
Ablow Jennifer C.,
Measelle Jeffrey R.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/imhj.21310
Subject(s) - vagal tone , maternal sensitivity , depression (economics) , depressive symptoms , psychology , developmental psychology , emotional dysregulation , clinical psychology , medicine , autonomic nervous system , psychiatry , anxiety , heart rate , blood pressure , economics , macroeconomics
Previous research has established that maternal depression is a risk factor for a variety of negative developmental outcomes among infants and children. Although low levels of maternal sensitivity have been hypothesized to explain this risk, the biological mechanisms underlying the association between maternal depressive symptoms and low levels of maternal sensitivity have been largely underexplored. This study examined the roles of postnatal depressive symptoms and parasympathetic nervous system functioning as predictors of low levels of maternal sensitivity, during a stressful mother–infant interaction—the reunion phase of the Still‐Face Paradigm. Depressive symptoms and traitlike predispositions toward parasympathetic dysregulation, as indexed by low resting levels of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, were associated independently with less sensitive parenting. Discussion considers that during stressful mother–infant interactions, both mothers with depressive symptoms and mothers predisposed to parasympathetic dysregulation may have fewer emotional, physiological, and psychological resources with which to respond sensitively to their infants' cues.