published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

Depressive disorders arising in the postnatal period can affect 10-16% of women and there is growing evidence for a range of adverse consequences for the mother and her child long after the symptoms may have remitted. Nevertheless, reliably detecting women who may be at risk of depression following childbirth continues to be problematic to health care workers. Drawing on a diathesis-stress model, the current study used a prospective design to investigate cognitive factors that might indicate a vulnerability to postnatal depressive symptomatology. A cohort of nulliparous pregnant women were recruited from antenatal clinics and parentcraft classes. They were interviewed during the third trimester of pregnancy when assessments of social support, mood, early experience of maternal behaviour, and neurotic personality traits were carried out. In addition, three sets of cognitive measures were included in this interview: the specificity of autobiographical recall, the nature of self-discrepancies, and self-devaluation. Ninety-four women without mental health problems at the time of the baseline assessment were followed up at two weeks and at two months post-delivery, when they were asked to complete measures relating to their mood. It was hypothesised that the cognitive characteristics would predict mood score at 2 months postpartum (Time 3), but not at the earlier follow-up stage of 2 weeks (Time 2) when biologicaVhormonal factors were believed to playa predominant role in aetiology. It was also hypothesised that these factors would mediate the relationship between both early experience and personality style, and postnatal mood. The results showed that the degree of self-devaluation, and low specificity of autobiographical recall, predicted depressive symptoms at Time 3, and that selfdevaluation also mediated the effects of early experience and neuroticism on postnatal mood. Self-discrepancy scores were not found to be useful in predicting subsequent levels of depression in the current sample. The clinical implications of these findings for the detection and prevention of postnatal depressed mood are discussed.

Maternal sensitivity is known to have important implications on children’s development. This study examined the sensitivity with which mothers used to elicit compliance from their children. In particular, this study explored the goal-regulation strategy of accommodation. One hundred twenty-nine mother-toddler dyads from a non-clinical sample were observed during a 5-minute ‘clean-up’ activity. Results showed that mothers’ utilized numerous accommodation strategies. Moreover, the use of individual accommodation strategies was associated with maternal depression, mothers’ level of child-orientation, and children’s age. / text

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3 pp. / Promoting the health and well-being of families during difficult times.

Recent research has demonstrated that depressed people elicit rejection and induce negative mood in those with whom they interact. The present study sought to replicate earlier research which demonstrated these effects in adult-child interactions when the child was depressed. It also was designed to determine how establishing a mental set about the etiology of a particular child's depression would mediate these findings. A total of 80 male and 80 female undergraduates viewed one of three tapes of a child actress interacting with an adult. The roles portrayed were those of a depressed child, a nondepressed but highly stressed child, and a normal nondepressed control child. Subjects who viewed the depressed child were also assigned to three different groups which either received no information about the child's mood and behavior, were told she was depressed due to physical causes, or that she was depressed due to a pattern of negative thinking. Subjects provided an explanation of the depression were also given an informative summary to read about the etiology of the depression. The depressed child was more rejected than the normal and stressed child, but providing a physical explanation of the depression significantly mediated the effect. Subjects did not differ in their expressed desire for further interaction with the normal and depressed child, but did express greater desire to interact when the depression was explained as a physical disorder than when no information was presented. The nondepressed normal child was viewed as significantly higher in general functioning than the child in any other role. Two mood induction findings were significant. Subjects viewing the normal control expressed higher degrees of positive affect than those viewing any other child. Subjects who viewed the depressed child without any further information were significantly more depressed than those in any other condition. Groups did not differ on measures of anxiety and hostility. Subjects did endorse differential intervention suggestions based on the role portrayal. These results are discussed in relation to the interpersonal model of depression and in terms of their implications for clinical practice.

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