BACKGROUND Animal research shows that early adverse experience results in altered glucocorticoid levels in adulthood, either raised basal levels or accentuated responses to stress. If a similar phenomenon operates in humans, this suggests a biological mechanism whereby early adversity might transmit risk for major depression, glucocorticoid elevations being associated with the development of th...

OBJECTIVE: To test, with a sample of adolescent mothers (16–20 at childbirth) and their first-born infants/toddlers (average age 1 year), whether the impact of a home visiting (HV) child maltreatment prevention program was moderated by maternal depression. METHODS: The study design was a randomized controlled trial of Healthy Families Massachusetts, a statewide child maltreatment prevention pro...

BACKGROUND Pregnancy with anxious or depressive symptoms might be associated with worse birth outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the demographic predictors of anxiety and depression symptoms in pregnant women. MATERIALS AND METHODS We assessed pregnancy anxiety and depression levels among 142 women in three trimesters. All subjects completed two questionnaires: Demographic scale...

OBJECTIVE To explore potential mediating and moderating factors that influence the association between paternal depression in the postnatal period and subsequent child behavioral and emotional problems. METHODS A population-based cohort (N = 13,822) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) was recruited during pregnancy. Paternal and maternal depressive symptoms were ...

There is some evidence linking maternal depression, harsh parenting, and children's internal representations of attachment, yet, longitudinal examinations of these relationships and differences in the developmental pathways between boys and girls are lacking. Moderated mediation growth curves were employed to examine harsh parenting as a mechanism underlying the link between maternal depression...

Studies have shown that, on average, Parent Management Training combined with cognitive-behavioral therapy decreases children's externalizing behavior, but some children do not improve through treatment. The current study aimed to examine the role of maternal depression in understanding this variability in treatment outcome. Children with externalizing behavioral problems and their parents were...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To examine the relationships between social support, maternal parental self-efficacy and postnatal depression in first-time mothers at 6 weeks post delivery. BACKGROUND Social support conceptualised and measured in different ways has been found to positively influence the mothering experience as has maternal parental self-efficacy. No research exists which has measured the...

Background It is not known whether associations between child problem behaviours and maternal depression can be accounted for by comorbid borderline personality disorder (BPD) dysfunction. Aim To examine the contributions of maternal depression and BPD symptoms to child problem behaviours. Method Depression trajectories over the first-year postpartum were generated using repeated measuremen...

Maternal depression was recently conceptualized as a network of interacting symptoms. Prior studies have shown that low self-efficacy, as an index of maternal functioning, is one important source of stress that worsens depression. We have limited information, however, on the specific relationships between depression symptoms and self-efficacy. In this study, we used regularized partial correlat...

BACKGROUND Stunting indicates failure to attain genetic potential for height and is a well-documented indicator for poor growth. Depression is common in women of reproductive age and women's mental health problems may affect the growth of young children. We examined the association between maternal depression and stunting in mother-child pairs attending Child Welfare Clinic (CWC) in Northern Gh...