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RELATION BETWEEN SOCIAL WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS IN FULL‐TERM AND PREMATURE INFANTS AND DEPRESSIVE SYMTOMS IN MOTHERS: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY
Author(s) -
Braarud Hanne C.,
Slinning Kari,
Moe Vibeke,
Smith Lars,
Vannebo Unni Tranaas,
Guedeney Antoine,
Heimann Mikael
Publication year - 2013
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.21414
Subject(s) - edinburgh postnatal depression scale , medicine , cohort , pediatrics , cohort study , longitudinal study , postpartum depression , depression (economics) , postpartum period , social withdrawal , depressive symptoms , psychiatry , pregnancy , anxiety , pathology , macroeconomics , biology , economics , genetics
The objective of this longitudinal study was to investigate the prevalence of infants' social withdrawal and mothers’ depressive symptoms in a cohort of full‐term infants and their mothers and in a cohort of moderately premature infants and their mothers at 3, 6, and 9 months’ postpartum. The Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) was used to assess social withdrawal; the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was administered to ascertain postpartum depressive symptoms. The results revealed a higher proportion of premature infants with social withdrawal at 6 months’ postpartum and significantly higher ADBB composite scores at 3 and 6 months of age, as compared with the full‐term infants. A higher proportion of mothers in the premature cohort had symptoms of postpartum depression at the 3‐month assessment, and they reported a significantly higher EPDS composite score at 3 months’ postpartum. There was a significant relation between maternal depressive symptoms at 3 and 6 months and infants’ social withdrawal at 9 months, and a significant concurrent relation between the two variables at 6 and 9 months in the full‐term cohort. The findings suggest a need to screen for both infant social withdrawal and maternal depressive symptoms in moderately prematurely born infants and their caregivers.