Tissot Hervé, Favez Nicolas, Frascarolo France, Despland Jean-Nicolas
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland.
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of GenevaGeneva, Switzerland; Center for Family Studies, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital, University of LausanneLausanne, Switzerland.
Front Psychol. 2016 Dec 5;7:1912. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01912. eCollection 2016.
Postpartum parental depression, even of mild intensity and short duration, has negative consequences on child development, including increased externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Studies revealed that the links between parental depression and child development are mediated by parenting difficulties. On the other hand, the mediating role of problematic family-level relationships, such as low coparenting support and high conflict between the parents, has rarely been considered, although coparenting difficulties have been linked with both increased depressive symptoms in parents and increased symptoms in toddlers. In the present study, we proposed testing a comprehensive mediation model linking parental depression, coparenting, and child symptoms. At 3 months postpartum, a convenience sample of 69 parental couples completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. In addition, we assessed levels of coparenting support and conflict during a mother-father-infant play situation, the Lausanne Trilogue Play. At 18 months postpartum, both parents assessed child symptoms with the Symptom Checklist Questionnaire. The results showed that coparenting support mediated the links between parental depressive symptoms and child symptoms, but only for mothers: Maternal depressive symptoms were linked with lower coparenting support, which in turn predicted increased psychofunctional symptoms and behavior problems assessed by mothers. Although coparenting conflict behaviors were not predicted by parents' depressive symptoms, higher conflict was unexpectedly linked with fewer behavior problems assessed by both parents. The present study allowed us to unveil complex pathways between mild parental mood disturbances, family-level relationships, and child development in the first months of the child's life.
产后父母抑郁，即使程度较轻且持续时间较短，也会对儿童发育产生负面影响，包括外化症状和内化症状增加。研究表明，父母抑郁与儿童发育之间的联系是由育儿困难介导的。另一方面，尽管共同育儿困难与父母抑郁症状增加和幼儿症状增加都有关联，但有问题的家庭层面关系的中介作用，如低共同育儿支持和父母之间的高冲突，却很少被考虑。在本研究中，我们提议测试一个将父母抑郁、共同育儿和儿童症状联系起来的综合中介模型。产后3个月时，69对父母组成的便利样本完成了爱丁堡产后抑郁量表。此外，我们在母婴父三人游戏情境（洛桑三人对话游戏）中评估了共同育儿支持和冲突的程度。产后18个月时，父母双方都用症状清单问卷对儿童症状进行了评估。结果表明，共同育儿支持介导了父母抑郁症状与儿童症状之间的联系，但仅对母亲而言：母亲的抑郁症状与较低的共同育儿支持有关，而这反过来又预示着母亲评估的心理功能症状和行为问题会增加。虽然父母的抑郁症状并未预测共同育儿冲突行为，但较高的冲突意外地与父母双方评估的较少行为问题相关联。本研究使我们能够揭示儿童生命最初几个月中父母轻度情绪障碍、家庭层面关系和儿童发育之间的复杂路径。
