McDonnell Christina G, Valentino Kristin
1 University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
Child Maltreat. 2016 Nov;21(4):317-326. doi: 10.1177/1077559516659556. Epub 2016 Jul 27.
Maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood. Less is known regarding how maternal ACEs relate to perinatal depressive symptoms or the intergenerational effect of maternal childhood trauma history on birth outcomes and infant functioning. To address this gap, an at-risk sample of 398 pregnant women was recruited from Women, Infants, and Children health clinics. Participants completed a prenatal ( M = 4.84 months before due date) and postnatal ( M = 6.76 months after birth) assessment and provided birth outcome data. At the prenatal assessment, mothers completed an ACEs measure which assessed experiences of childhood maltreatment and household dysfunction. Self-report measures of maternal depressive symptoms were obtained at both time points. Mothers reported on infant socioemotional functioning at 6 months. Maternal ACEs predicted higher levels of prenatal depressive symptoms. Childhood maltreatment experiences, in particular, predicted higher postnatal depressive symptoms and a smaller reduction in depressive symptoms across the perinatal period. Regarding intergenerational associations, maternal childhood maltreatment directly predicted higher levels of maladaptive infant socioemotional symptoms, whereas maternal household dysfunction indirectly related to infant socioemotional symptoms through maternal age at first pregnancy and infant birth weight. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
母亲童年不良经历（ACEs）与成年后的负面身心健康结果相关。关于母亲的ACEs如何与围产期抑郁症状相关，或者母亲童年创伤史对出生结局和婴儿功能的代际影响，人们了解得较少。为了填补这一空白，从妇女、婴儿和儿童健康诊所招募了398名高危孕妇样本。参与者完成了产前（预产期前M = 4.84个月）和产后（出生后M = 6.76个月）评估，并提供了出生结局数据。在产前评估中，母亲们完成了一项ACEs测量，该测量评估了童年虐待经历和家庭功能障碍。在两个时间点都获得了母亲抑郁症状的自我报告测量。母亲们报告了婴儿6个月时的社会情感功能。母亲的ACEs预示着更高水平的产前抑郁症状。特别是童年虐待经历，预示着更高水平的产后抑郁症状，以及围产期抑郁症状的减少幅度更小。关于代际关联，母亲童年虐待直接预示着婴儿适应不良社会情感症状的更高水平，而母亲家庭功能障碍则通过首次怀孕时的母亲年龄和婴儿出生体重与婴儿社会情感症状间接相关。讨论了研究的局限性和未来方向。
