The Multiple Determinants of Maternal Parenting Stress 12 Months After Birth: The Contribution of Antenatal Attachment Style, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Infant Temperament

Parenting stress can influence caregiving behavior negatively, which in turn may harm children’s development. Identifying precursors of parenting stress, preferably beginning during pregnancy and throughout the first year of life, is therefore important. The present study aims to provide novel knowledge on this issue through a detailed examination of the association between maternal attachment style and later parenting stress. Moreover, we examine the role of several additional risk factors, specificially the mothers’ own adverse childhood experiences (ACE), as well as infants’ temperamental characteristics. Data from a community based longitudinal study of 1,036 Norwegian mothers, collected during pregnancy and 12 months after childbirth, were used. Results showed that attachment style in pregnancy predicted parenting stress 1 year after birth. In addition, it was demonstrated that the mothers’ own ACEs predicted postnatal parenting stress, and that attachment style operated as a mediator of this association. A significant association between perceived infant temperament and parenting stress was also found. The study illustrates the importance of understanding the multifactorial antecedents of parenting stress. The results may inform early intervention efforts aimed at supporting mothers and their partners in the potentially difficult transition period around childbirth

Little in Norway: a prospective longitudinal community-based cohort from pregnancy to child age 18 months

The Little in Norway (LiN) project is a cross-disciplinary prospective longitudinal study starting in pregnancy. It was set up to investigate maternal and paternal mental health functioning in the transition to parenthood, detect pathways to healthy and aberrant child development and generate new knowledge about mechanisms underlying differential child mental health susceptibility.publishedVersio

Lexical access speed and the development of phonological recoding during immediate serial recall

A recent Registered Replication Report (RRR) of the development of verbal rehearsal during serial recall revealed that children verbalized at younger ages than previously thought, but did not identify sources of individual differences. Here, we use mediation analysis to reanalyze data from the 934 children ranging from 5 to 10 years old from the RRR for that purpose. From ages 5 to 7, the time taken for a child to label pictures (i.e. isolated naming speed) predicted the child’s spontaneous use of labels during a visually presented serial reconstruction task, despite no need for spoken responses. For 6- and 7-year-olds, isolated naming speed also predicted recall. The degree to which verbalization mediated the relation between isolated naming speed and recall changed across development. All relations dissipated by age 10. The same general pattern was observed in an exploratory analysis of delayed recall for which greater demands are placed on rehearsal for item maintenance. Overall, our findings suggest that spontaneous phonological recoding during a standard short-term memory task emerges around age 5, increases in efficiency during the early elementary school years, and is sufficiently automatic by age 10 to support immediate serial recall in most children. Moreover, the findings highlight the need to distinguish between phonological recoding and rehearsal in developmental studies of short-term memory

Lexical access speed and the development of phonological recoding during immediate serial recall

A recent Registered Replication Report (RRR) of the development of verbal rehearsal during serial recall revealed that children verbalized at younger ages than previously thought, but did not identify sources of individual differences. Here, we use mediation analysis to reanalyze data from the 934 children ranging from 5 to 10 years old from the RRR for that purpose. From ages 5 to 7, the time taken for a child to label pictures (i.e. isolated naming speed) predicted the child’s spontaneous use of labels during a visually presented serial reconstruction task, despite no need for spoken responses. For 6- and 7-year-olds, isolated naming speed also predicted recall. The degree to which verbalization mediated the relation between isolated naming speed and recall changed across development. All relations dissipated by age 10. The same general pattern was observed in an exploratory analysis of delayed recall for which greater demands are placed on rehearsal for item maintenance. Overall, our findings suggest that spontaneous phonological recoding during a standard short-term memory task emerges around age 5, increases in efficiency during the early elementary school years, and is sufficiently automatic by age 10 to support immediate serial recall in most children. Moreover, the findings highlight the need to distinguish between phonological recoding and rehearsal in developmental studies of short-term memory

"Vi er så hjelpeløst alene" : Trude Marsteins "Plutselig høre noen åpne en dør" belyst med psykologisk intersubjektivitetsteori

I vår oppgave søker vi en nærmere forståelse av hovedpersonen i Trude Marsteins roman Plutselig høre noen åpne en dør, ved å fortolke romanen i et psykologisk intersubjektivitetsperspektiv. Det har vært et mål for oss at romanen og det teoretiske kan låne hverandre innsikt, og vi undersøker hvordan romanen er et bidrag til forståelse av intersubjektivitetsteori. Vi har spesielt konsentrert oss om bidrag fra Daniel Stern, Jessica Benjamin og Peter Fonagy og medarbeidere. Ubehaget romanen synes å vekke hos lesere, samt vår egen nærlesning har vært utgangspunkt for våre hovedspørsmål. For det første: hvordan kan vi forstå hovedpersonens mangel på nære emosjonelle relasjoner og hennes selvovervåkende stil i samvær med andre. For det andre: Hvordan kan vi forstå at hovedpersonen ikke bryter ut av fastlåste relasjonelle mønstre. Romanen synes for oss å åpne for et mer overordnet spørsmål, nemlig hvordan individer vokser opp til å bli forstående mennesker som er i stand til å gi empati til egne barn. For oss handler dette mer spesifikt om hvordan vi utvikler intersubjektiv kapasitet. Vi bruker hermeneutisk fortolkende metode, og drøfter det vi oppfatter som sentrale metodiske problemstillinger. Gjennom fortolkningen undersøker vi ulike former for samspill hovedpersonen inngår i. Vi konsentrere oss særlig om intersubjektive delingsopplevelser, lekende samspill og mønstre med dominans og underkastelse. Videre undersøker vi aktuelle intrapsykiske forhold, hvor forholdet til affekter og regulering av avstand og nærhet står sentralt. Gjennom fortolkningen fremkommer det etter hvert et bilde av en hovedperson som synes å ha mangelfull evne til å gi mening til egne og andres indre tilstander. Vi undersøker prosesser som kan antas å ligge bak disse vanskelighetene, og knytter dette opp mot hovedspørsmålene. Til slutt diskuterer vi sentrale momenter ved de ulike teoretikernes intersubjektivitetsbegrep, som har blitt gjort relevant gjennom fortolkningsarbeidet

Patterns of pregnancy and postpartum depressive symptoms: Latent class trajectories and predictors.

Depressive symptoms among pregnant and postpartum women are common. However, recent studies indicate that depressive symptoms in the perinatal period do not follow a uniform course, and investigations of the heterogeneity of time courses and associated factors are needed. The aim of this study was to explore whether depressive symptoms in the perinatal period could be categorized into several distinct trajectories of symptom development among subgroups of perinatal women, and to identify predictors of these trajectory groups. The study used data from 1,036 Norwegian women participating in a community-based prospective study from midpregnancy until 12-months postpartum. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at 7 time points (4 during pregnancy). Partner-related attachment, stress, childhood adversities, pregnancy-related anxiety, previous psychopathology, and socioeconomic conditions were assessed at enrollment. By means of growth mixture modeling based on piecewise growth curves, 4 classes of depressive symptom trajectories were identified, including (a) pregnancy only (4.4%); (b) postpartum only (2.2%); (c) moderate-persistent (10.5%); and (d) minimum symptoms (82.9%) classes. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that membership in the pregnancy only and postpartum only classes primarily was associated with pregnancy-related anxiety and previous psychopathology, respectively, whereas the moderate-persistent class was associated with diverse psychosocial adversity factors. Findings suggest heterogeneity in temporal patterns of elevated depressive mood, relating specific trajectories of time courses with distinct adversity factors. Researchers and clinicians should be aware of possible multiple courses of elevated perinatal depressive mood, and inquire about possible diverse adversity factors, aberrant pathways, and prognoses. © 2017 American Psychological Association. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission

Depressive symptom contagion in the transition to parenthood: Interparental processes and the role of partner-related attachment

How depressive symptoms unfold within a couple during the perinatal events of pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenthood is poorly understood. In this prospective study, we aim to investigate the reciprocal relation between maternal and paternal depressive symptomatology, specifically how symptoms in 1 partner relate to subsequent symptom level changes in the other partner throughout the perinatal period. Further, we aim to identify parents who are particularly vulnerable to the development of disruptive processes of negative mood states. Data were collected from 1,036 mothers and 878 fathers participating in the Little in Norway study from midpregnancy until 12 months postpartum. Depressive symptoms were assessed at 7 time points (4 prenatally) in both parents. Partner-related attachment was measured early in pregnancy. By using an autoregressive latent trajectory modeling approach, accounting for time invariant confounding, we found mothers’ depressive symptoms late in pregnancy to predict elevated symptom levels in fathers 6 weeks after birth, with a small effect size. No other time-adjacent effects were observed among partners at other time points or with the opposite directionality. However, moderation analyses revealed that among parents characterized by insecure partner-attachment styles, additional cross-lagged pathways were evident during pregnancy and throughout the first year of parenthood. Clinicians need to be aware of fathers’ vulnerability to symptom development in instances of maternal perinatal depressive states at the time around childbirth, and tailor preventive and treatment efforts to address both parents’ needs. Further, particular attention should be directed to parents with heightened susceptibility to prolonged depression contagion processes

The Multiple Determinants of Maternal Parenting Stress 12 Months After Birth: The Contribution of Antenatal Attachment Style, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Infant Temperament

publishedVersio