Is maternal depression related to side of infant holding?

• Published in: International journal of behavioral development Vol. 28; no. 5; pp. 421 - 427
• Main Authors: Weatherill, Robin P., Almerigi, Jason B., Levendosky, Alytia A., Bogat, G. Anne, Von Eye, Alexander, Harris, Lauren Julius
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01-09-2004; SAGE Publications; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: At Risk Persons; Babies; Beck Depression Inventory; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Hemisphere Functions; Child development; Depression (Psychology); Developmental psychology; Family Violence; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Holding; Infants; Longitudinal Studies; Maternal depression; Measures (Individuals); Mothers; Newborn. Infant; Parent Child Relationship; Preferences; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Risk factors; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); USA; Human; Mood disorder; Depression; Infant; Manual activity; Mother child relation; Maternal diseases; Handling
• ISSN: 0165-0254; 1464-0651
• DOI: 10.1080/01650250444000117

Studies show that 65–85% of mothers hold their infants on the left side of
their own body and that this left-bias may be reduced or reversed when mothers have
symptoms similar to depression or dysphoria (de Château, Holmberg,
& Winberg, 1978). No studies, however, have used diagnostic criteria to
assess the mother’s psychological state. The current study examined the
relationship between maternal report of depressive symptoms on the Beck Depression
Inventory and holding-side bias in a high-risk sample of 177 mothers participating
with their infants in a larger longitudinal study of mother–infant
relationships and domestic violence. Mothers classified as nondepressed showed a
significant left-bias; those classified as depressed showed a
nonsignificant right-bias; mothers who reported experiencing domestic
violence also showed a reduced left-bias. The results are interpreted in terms of
current theory and research on lateralised hemispheric activation and depression.