Nanmathi Manian

Dynamics of Emotion Regulation in Infants of Clinically Depressed and Nondepressed Mothers.

BACKGROUND Emotion regulation (ER) has been conceptualized as an ongoing process of the individuals emotion patterns in relation to moment-to-moment contextual demands. In contrast to traditional approaches of descriptively quantizing ER, we employed a dynamic approach to ER by examining key transitions in infants of clinically depressed and nondepressed mothers in the context of maternal still-face (SF). METHODS Mothers with (n = 48) and without a clinical diagnosis of depression (n = 68) were seen in a modified SF paradigm with their 5-month-olds. Infant states and self-soothing behaviors were coded in 1-sec time intervals. RESULTS Infants of nondepressed mothers used attentional regulatory strategies, whereas infants of depressed mothers used internally directed strategies of self-soothing to reduce negativity and maintain engagement with mother. CONCLUSIONS This study advances our understanding of processes underlying infant ER and points to possible mechanisms for the development of long-term maladaptive ER strategies in infants of depressed mothers.

Temperament, recalled parenting styles, and self-regulation: testing the developmental postulates of self-discrepancy theory.

Self-discrepancy theory (SDT) postulates that self-regulatory systems corresponding to the ideal and ought self-domains emerge from the influences of temperament (e.g., sensitivity to stimuli for positive vs. negative outcomes) and socialization (e.g., parenting behaviors and interpersonal outcome contingencies ). This article reports 2 studies testing the developmental postulates of SDT concurrently and retrospectively. Study 1 showed that self-regulation with reference to the ideal vs. the ought domain was differentially associated with recollections of parenting styles of warmth and rejection. respectively. In Study 2, these findings were replicated, and self-regulation with reference to the ideal vs. ought domain was diseriminantly associated with questionnaire measures of positive vs. negative temperament. Findings support the developmental postulates of SDT, despite the limitations of retrospective studies.

Discrimination of facial expression by 5-month-old infants of nondepressed and clinically depressed mothers.

Five-month-old infants of nondepressed and clinically depressed mothers were habituated to either a face with a neutral expression or the same face with a smile. Infants of nondepressed mothers subsequently discriminated between neutral and smiling facial expressions, whereas infants of clinically depressed mothers failed to make the same discrimination.

Factor structure and clinical utility of BDI-II factor scores in postpartum women

BACKGROUND The purpose of the current study was to examine the factorial dimensions underlying Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) in a large ethnically and economically diverse sample of postpartum women and to assess their relative contribution in differentiating clinical diagnoses in a subsample of depressed women. METHODS We administered the BDI-II to 953 women between 4 and 20 weeks postpartum. Women who had low (1-7) and high (>12) BDI-II total scores were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I). RESULTS Exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed three factors, Cognitive, Somatic, and Affective, that accounted for 49.09% of the overall variance of items. Logistic regression analyses showed that somatic and affective factors contributed to diagnosis of major depression, while the somatic factor alone contributed to the diagnosis of depression with comorbid anxiety. The cognitive factor differentiated women with major depression from women who were never depressed. LIMITATIONS Our definition of clinical depression included episodes of depression during the childs lifetime, and depressive symptoms were not necessarily current at the time of the assessment, which may impact the relative contribution of BDI-II factors to clinical diagnosis. CONCLUSION Conceptualizing the structure of the BDI-II using these three factors could contribute to refining the measurement and scoring of depressive symptomatology and severity in postpartum women. Although somatic symptoms of depression may be difficult to differentiate from the physiological changes of normative postpartum adjustment, our results support the inclusion of somatic symptoms of depression in the calculation of a BDI-II total score.

Response to Infant Cry in Clinically Depressed and Non-Depressed Mothers

Background Bowlby and Ainsworth hypothesized that maternal responsiveness is displayed in the context of infant distress. Depressed mothers are less responsive to infant distress vocalizations (cry) than non-depressed mothers. The present study focuses on acoustical components of infant cry that give rise to responsive caregiving in clinically depressed (n = 30) compared with non-depressed mothers (n = 30) in the natural setting of the home. Methods Analyses of infant and mother behaviors followed three paths: (1) tests of group differences in acoustic characteristics of infant cry, (2) tests of group differences of mothers’ behaviors during their infant’s crying, and (3) tree-based modeling to ascertain which variable(s) best predict maternal behaviors during infant cry. Results (1) Infants of depressed mothers cried as frequently and for equal durations as infants of non-depressed mothers; however, infants of depressed mothers cried with a higher fundamental frequency (f0) and in a more restricted range of f0. (2) Depressed mothers fed, rocked, and touched their crying infants less than non-depressed mothers, and depressed mothers were less responsive to their infants overall. (3) Novel tree-based analyses confirmed that depressed mothers engaged in less caregiving during their infants’ cry and indicated that depressed mothers responded only to cries at higher f0s and shorter durations. Older non-depressed mothers were the most interactive with infants. Conclusions Clinical depression affects maternal responsiveness during infant cry, leading to patterns of action that appear poorly attuned to infant needs.

Screening for depression in the postpartum using the Beck Depression Inventory II: What logistic regression reveals

Objective: To identify items on the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) that best discriminate between clinically depressed and nondepressed postpartum women. Background: Postpartum depression is a serious and widespread health burden, and the BDI-II is commonly used to detect depression in the postpartum. Yet certain depressive symptoms are ‘normative’ sequelae of childbirth, calling into question the discriminative utility of the BDI-II. Methods: We examined the prospective contribution of BDI-II items to identify items that have the strongest relation with clinical postpartum depression. Women with BDI-II scores >12 were invited to participate in a structured clinical interview. A logistic regression was conducted to determine which BDI-II items discriminated between women who were later diagnosed as Depressed (n = 75) and Nondepressed (n = 78). Results: Of the 11 BDI-II items that differed between the two groups, eight represented cognitive/affective symptoms. Results from the logistic regression indicated that four BDI-II symptoms were significant predictors of Depression status: sadness, pessimism, loss of interest, and changes in appetite. Conclusion: The BDI-II should be used in the postpartum with caution. Professionals who screen for postpartum depression should pay particular attention to cognitive/affective symptoms, as they appear more robust to normative physical and emotional changes that occur in the postpartum.