Predicting maternal sensitivity: The roles of postnatal depressive symptoms and parasympathetic dysregulation Article

Musser, ED, Ablow, JC, Measelle, JR. (2012). Predicting maternal sensitivity: The roles of postnatal depressive symptoms and parasympathetic dysregulation . Infant Mental Health Journal, 33(4), 350-359. 10.1002/imhj.21310

cited authors

  • Musser, ED; Ablow, JC; Measelle, JR

authors

abstract

  • 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'. © 2012 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

publication date

  • July 1, 2012

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 350

end page

  • 359

volume

  • 33

issue

  • 4