Maternal Depression Affects Infants’ Lexical Processing Abilities in the Second Year of Life
Maternal depression and anxiety have been proposed to increase the risk of adverse outcomes of language development in the early years of life. This study investigated the effects of maternal depression and anxiety on language development using two approaches: (i) a categorical approach that compare...
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Brain Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/10/12/977 |
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| author | Ruth Brookman Marina Kalashnikova Janet Conti Nan Xu Rattanasone Kerry-Ann Grant Katherine Demuth Denis Burnham |
| author_facet | Ruth Brookman Marina Kalashnikova Janet Conti Nan Xu Rattanasone Kerry-Ann Grant Katherine Demuth Denis Burnham |
| author_sort | Ruth Brookman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Maternal depression and anxiety have been proposed to increase the risk of adverse outcomes of language development in the early years of life. This study investigated the effects of maternal depression and anxiety on language development using two approaches: (i) a categorical approach that compared lexical abilities in two groups of children, a risk group (mothers with clinical-level symptomatology) and a control non-risk group, and (ii) a continuous approach that assessed the relation between individual mothers’ clinical and subclinical symptomatology and their infants’ lexical abilities. Infants’ lexical abilities were assessed at 18 months of age using an objective lexical processing measure and a parental report of expressive vocabulary. Infants in the risk group exhibited lower lexical processing abilities compared to controls, and maternal depression scores were negatively correlated to infants’ lexical processing and vocabulary measures. Furthermore, maternal depression (not anxiety) explained the variance in infants’ individual lexical processing performance above the variance explained by their individual expressive vocabulary size. These results suggest that significant differences are emerging in 18-month-old infants’ lexical processing abilities, and this appears to be related, in part, to their mothers’ depression and anxiety symptomatology during the postnatal period. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:06:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-61a60273ae2d48e5871da2ad734437bc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:06:50Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-61a60273ae2d48e5871da2ad734437bc2023-11-21T00:33:25ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252020-12-01101297710.3390/brainsci10120977Maternal Depression Affects Infants’ Lexical Processing Abilities in the Second Year of LifeRuth Brookman0Marina Kalashnikova1Janet Conti2Nan Xu Rattanasone3Kerry-Ann Grant4Katherine Demuth5Denis Burnham6The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1957, Penrith, NSW 2750, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1957, Penrith, NSW 2750, AustraliaSchool of Psychology, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1957, Penrith, NSW 2750, AustraliaDepartment of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Balaclava Road, North Ryde, NSW 2109, AustraliaHealth Education and Training Institute, Locked Bag 7118, Parramatta Bc, NSW 2124, AustraliaDepartment of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Balaclava Road, North Ryde, NSW 2109, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1957, Penrith, NSW 2750, AustraliaMaternal depression and anxiety have been proposed to increase the risk of adverse outcomes of language development in the early years of life. This study investigated the effects of maternal depression and anxiety on language development using two approaches: (i) a categorical approach that compared lexical abilities in two groups of children, a risk group (mothers with clinical-level symptomatology) and a control non-risk group, and (ii) a continuous approach that assessed the relation between individual mothers’ clinical and subclinical symptomatology and their infants’ lexical abilities. Infants’ lexical abilities were assessed at 18 months of age using an objective lexical processing measure and a parental report of expressive vocabulary. Infants in the risk group exhibited lower lexical processing abilities compared to controls, and maternal depression scores were negatively correlated to infants’ lexical processing and vocabulary measures. Furthermore, maternal depression (not anxiety) explained the variance in infants’ individual lexical processing performance above the variance explained by their individual expressive vocabulary size. These results suggest that significant differences are emerging in 18-month-old infants’ lexical processing abilities, and this appears to be related, in part, to their mothers’ depression and anxiety symptomatology during the postnatal period.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/10/12/977language developmentlexical processingvocabularypostnatalmaternal depressionmaternal anxiety |
| spellingShingle | Ruth Brookman Marina Kalashnikova Janet Conti Nan Xu Rattanasone Kerry-Ann Grant Katherine Demuth Denis Burnham Maternal Depression Affects Infants’ Lexical Processing Abilities in the Second Year of Life Brain Sciences language development lexical processing vocabulary postnatal maternal depression maternal anxiety |
| title | Maternal Depression Affects Infants’ Lexical Processing Abilities in the Second Year of Life |
| title_full | Maternal Depression Affects Infants’ Lexical Processing Abilities in the Second Year of Life |
| title_fullStr | Maternal Depression Affects Infants’ Lexical Processing Abilities in the Second Year of Life |
| title_full_unstemmed | Maternal Depression Affects Infants’ Lexical Processing Abilities in the Second Year of Life |
| title_short | Maternal Depression Affects Infants’ Lexical Processing Abilities in the Second Year of Life |
| title_sort | maternal depression affects infants lexical processing abilities in the second year of life |
| topic | language development lexical processing vocabulary postnatal maternal depression maternal anxiety |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/10/12/977 |
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