Maternal social support, depression and emotional availability in early mother-infant interaction: Findings from a pregnancy cohort

Kelli K MacMillan; Andrew J Lewis; Stuart J Watson; Declan Bourke; Megan Galbally

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.048

Maternal social support, depression and emotional availability in early mother-infant interaction: Findings from a pregnancy cohort

J Affect Disord. 2021 Sep 1:292:757-765. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.048. Epub 2021 May 27.

Authors

Kelli K MacMillan¹, Andrew J Lewis², Stuart J Watson³, Declan Bourke², Megan Galbally⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia; Psychology, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia; Women's Health, Genetics and Mental Health Directorate, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, Subiaco, Australia.
² Psychology, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.
³ School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia; Psychology, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.
⁴ School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia; Psychology, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia; Women's Health, Genetics and Mental Health Directorate, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, Subiaco, Australia; Faculty of Health and Medicine Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. Electronic address: m.galbally@murdoch.edu.au.

PMID: 34167025
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.048

Abstract

Background: Social support theory suggests that parental social support may influence the nature of early parenting behaviours and specifically the mother-infant relationship. This study examines whether support from a partner, friends or family is associated with differences in quality of mother-infant interactions in the context of maternal depression.

Methods: 210 women were followed from early pregnancy to six months postpartum within Australian pregnancy cohort, the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS). Mother-infant interactions within a standardised observation at six months postpartum were measured by the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales using total scores of the parental scales. In early and late pregnancy and at six months postpartum, mothers rated perceived maternal social support from a partner, family and friends using subscales of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Depression was measured in early pregnancy and at six months postpartum using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV-TR, with repeated measurement of depressive symptoms by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Data was analysed using structural equation models.

Results: There were significant interactions between depressive symptoms in early pregnancy and perceived maternal support from a partner (B = .18, 95% CI = 03, .31) and separately from family (B = .12, 95% CI = .03, .32) in predicting maternal emotional availability. No such interaction was found for support from friends. While partner and family support moderated the association between early depressive symptoms and emotional availability, there were no direct associations between maternal depressive disorder in early pregnancy and perceived support, and further, maternal depression was not a significant predictor of emotional availability.

Limitations: Future studies should consider extending measurement of the mother-infant relationship beyond the EA Scales, inclusion of a measure of maternal childhood trauma, and replicating our findings.

Conclusion: Maternal perception of partner and family support in the postpartum is a predictor of the association between early pregnancy depressive symptoms and maternal emotional availability.

Keywords: Depression; Emotional availability; Mother-infant; Perinatal; Social support.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Australia
Depression
Depression, Postpartum*
Female
Humans
Infant
Mother-Child Relations
Mothers*
Postpartum Period
Pregnancy
Social Support