TITLE:
Postpartum Depressive Symptoms of Mothers with Reciprocal Social Behavior Problems Linked to Increased Aggression in Infants: Hamamatsu Birth Cohort for Mothers and Children (HBC Study)
AUTHORS:
Ryosuke Asano, Kenji J. Tsuchiya, Nori Takei, Norio Mori
KEYWORDS:
Aggression, Infancy, Reciprocal Social Behavior, Postpartum Depressive Symptoms, Birth Cohort
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.7 No.4,
April
21,
2016
ABSTRACT: Previous
studies have led to the assumption that maternal problems in reciprocal social
behavior might play an important role in infantile aggression. This study
investigated whether maternal problems in reciprocal social behavior were
predictive of higher infantile aggression at 18 months of age, and whether
maternal postpartum depressive symptoms mediated the association. Participants
were 769 mother-child dyads enrolled in the Hamamatsu Birth Cohort for Mothers
and Children, in Hamamatsu, Japan. Maternal problems in reciprocal social
behavior were evaluated during mid-pregnancy; maternal postpartum depressive
symptoms were assessed at 4 weeks after childbirth; and infantile aggression
was evaluated at 18 months of age. The results of mediation analysis using
structural equation modeling showed that maternal problems in reciprocal social
behavior directly increased infantile aggression (estimate = 0.100, 95% CI
[0.011, 0.186]), and indirectly increased infantile aggression via maternal
postpartum depressive symptoms (estimate = 0.027, 95% CI [0.010, 0.054]), even
after controlling for covariates. This is the first study to demonstrate two
separate processes in the effects of maternal problems in reciprocal social
behavior on early infantile aggression.