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Maternal Depression and the Ability to Facilitate Joint Attention With 18‐Month‐Olds
Author(s) -
Henderson Erin N.,
Jennings Kay Donahue
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1207/s15327078in0401_2
Subject(s) - psychology , dyad , anxiety , joint attention , depression (economics) , psychopathology , developmental psychology , major depressive disorder , affect (linguistics) , clinical psychology , pathological , psychiatry , medicine , mood , communication , pathology , autism , economics , macroeconomics
Maternal depression has been associated with the mother‐child dyad's ability to engage in joint attention. This study of 69 depressed and 63 control mothers and their 18‐month‐olds addresses how aspects of maternal psychopathology are related to joint attention during a snack interaction. Although nondepressed‐mother dyads appeared better at joint attention than depressed‐mother dyads, this difference was not statistically significant. Among the depressed‐mother dyads, joint attention was related to presence of a comorbid Axis I diagnosis (usually an anxiety disorder) versus a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) only. Surprisingly, dyads with mothers who met criteria for a comorbid diagnosis were better at joint attention than those with MDD only, despite the fact that those mothers were likely to have longer and more severe depressive histories. The relationship between comorbid status and joint attention was mediated by the mother's affect. Rationale for the paradoxical finding that the “more pathological” mothers had greater success in engaging in joint attention is discussed.