THE IMPACT OF DEPRESSION ON MATERNAL RESPONSES TO INFANT FACES IN PREGNANCY

ABSTRACT Research has suggested that prenatal depression may be associated with disrupted maternal responses to infant stimuli, with depressed pregnant women not showing the bias toward distressed infants as that observed in nondepressed pregnant women. The current study examined the effects of depression on self‐ reported responses to infant stimuli, in early pregnancy. Women with clinical depression (n = 38), and nondepressed women (n = 67) were recruited from a wider cognitive behavioral therapy trial. They completed Maternal Response Scales in which they were presented with images of distressed, neutral, and happy infant faces, with no time limit. The women rated their responses to these images along three dimensions—wanting to comfort, wanting to turn away, and feelings of anxiety—using Likert scales via a computerized task. There was evidence that women with depression in pregnancy showed different responses than did women without depression. Women with depression were substantially more likely to be in the highest quartile for ratings of wanting to turn away, odds (OR) ratio = 4.15, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 1.63–10.5, p = .003, and also were substantially less likely to be in the highest quartile for wanting to comfort a distressed infant face, OR = 0.22, 95% CIs = 0.09–0.54, p < .001. Findings are consistent with there being both a heightened avoidant and a reduced comforting response toward distressed infants in depressed pregnant women, providing some support that depression disrupts maternal preparations at a conscious level. RESUMEN Trasfondo: La investigación sugiere que la depresión prenatal pudiera estar asociada con los trastornos en las respuestas maternas a las manifestaciones de estímulo del infante, sin que las mujeres embarazadas deprimidas muestren los prejuicios hacia los infantes angustiados que se observan en las mujeres embarazadas no deprimidas. El presente estudio examinó los efectos de la depresión en las respuestas auto‐reportadas a las manifestaciones de estímulo del infante al principio del embarazo. Método: Se reclutaron mujeres con depresión clínica (n = 38) y mujeres no deprimidas (n = 67) de un grupo mayor de experimento de terapia de conducta cognitiva (CBT). Las mismas completaron las Escalas de Respuesta Materna (MRS) en las cuales se les presentaron imágenes de caras de infantes angustiados, neutrales y felices sin límite de tiempo. Las mujeres evaluaron sus respuestas a estas imágenes a lo largo de tres dime