Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Dysfunctional Cognitions, and Infant Night Waking: The Role of Maternal Nighttime Behavior

• Published in: Child development Vol. 83; no. 3; pp. 939 - 953
• Main Authors: Teti, Douglas M., Crosby, Brian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-05-2012; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Anxiety - etiology; Babies; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Child development; Child Rearing; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Cognitive models; Depression; Depression (Psychology); Depressive disorders; Developmental psychology; Dysfunction; Dysfunctional; EMPIRICAL ARTICLES; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Records, Personal; Humans; Infant; Infant Behavior; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Male; Maternal behavior; Maternal Behavior - psychology; Maternal depression; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Modeling; Mood disorders; Mother-Child Relations; Mothers; Newborn. Infant; Parent Child Relationship; Parenting; Physical contact; Prediction; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Schemata (Cognition); Sleep; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - psychology; Social psychology; Social support; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Video Technology; Wakefulness; Young Adult; Social environment; Human; Mood disorder; Parental behavior; Cognitive disorder; Night; Depression; Infant; Cognition; Mother child relation; Maternal diseases; Maternal behavior; Symptomatology; Social interaction; Wakefulness; Family environment; Sleep wake cycle; Cognitive development
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01760.x

Mechanisms were examined to clarify relations between maternal depressive symptoms, dysfunctional cognitions, and infant night waking among 45 infants (1-24 months) and their mothers. A mother-driven mediational model was tested in which maternal depressive symptoms and dysfunctional cognitions about infant sleep predicted infant night waking via their impact on mothers' bedtime and nighttime behavior with infants (from video). Two infant-driven mediational models were also examined, in which infant night waking predicted maternal depressive symptoms, or dysfunctional cognitions, via their impact on nighttime maternal behavior. Stronger support for the mother-driven model was obtained, which was further supported by qualitative observations from video-recordings. This study provides important insights about maternal depression's effects on nighttime parenting, and how such parenting affects infant sleep.