Firk Christine, Konrad Kerstin, Herpertz-Dahlmann Beate, Scharke Wolfgang, Dahmen Brigitte
Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany.
Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; JARA-Brain Institute II, Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, RWTH Aachen & Research Centre Juelich, Germany.
Infant Behav Dev. 2018 Feb;50:238-246. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.02.002. Epub 2018 Feb 12.
Adolescent motherhood is accompanied by a constellation of risk factors that translate into developmental risk for the off-spring. Socioeconomic risk that is associated with adolescent motherhood as well as maternal interactive behaviors may contribute to the impact of adolescent motherhood on children's developmental outcome.
Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate differences in children's cognitive development between children of adolescent and adult mothers in their first two years of life and to examine whether socioeconomic risk (e.g. such as educational and financial problems) and/or maternal sensitivity mediate developmental differences between children of adolescent and adult mothers.
Adolescent mothers (<21 years; N = 64) and adult mothers (>25 years; N = 34) and their infants were included in the current study. Child cognitive development and maternal sensitivity were assessed at three different time points (T1: mean child age 5.26 months; T2: mean child age 14.69 months; T3: mean child age 21.16 months).
Children of adult mothers showed better cognitive performance at T3 compared to children of adolescent mothers but not at T1 and T2. A multiple mediation model including socioeconomic risk and maternal sensitivity as serial mediators demonstrated that the effect of adolescent motherhood on cognitive development was mediated in a causal effect chain with socioeconomic risk negatively affecting maternal sensitivity and maternal sensitivity affecting children's cognitive development.
The present findings demonstrate that maternal interactive behaviors are not only a simple predictor of cognitive development but may also act as a mediator of the association between more distal variables such as socioeconomic risk and cognitive development in adolescent mothers. This supports the need to promote prevention and intervention programs for adolescent mothers during the early postpartum period to reduce socioeconomic problems and enhance maternal interactive behaviors.
青少年母亲伴随着一系列风险因素，这些因素会转化为后代的发育风险。与青少年母亲相关的社会经济风险以及母亲的互动行为可能会影响青少年母亲对孩子发育结果的影响。
因此，本研究的目的是调查青少年母亲和成年母亲的孩子在生命的前两年认知发展的差异，并检验社会经济风险（如教育和经济问题）和/或母亲的敏感性是否介导了青少年母亲和成年母亲的孩子之间的发育差异。
本研究纳入了青少年母亲（<21岁；N = 64）、成年母亲（>25岁；N = 34）及其婴儿。在三个不同时间点评估儿童认知发展和母亲敏感性（T1：儿童平均年龄5.26个月；T2：儿童平均年龄14.69个月；T3：儿童平均年龄21.16个月）。
与青少年母亲的孩子相比，成年母亲的孩子在T3时表现出更好的认知能力，但在T1和T2时并非如此。一个包括社会经济风险和母亲敏感性作为连续中介变量的多重中介模型表明，青少年母亲身份对认知发展的影响是通过一个因果效应链介导的，社会经济风险对母亲敏感性有负面影响，而母亲敏感性影响孩子的认知发展。
本研究结果表明，母亲的互动行为不仅是认知发展的一个简单预测因素，还可能作为社会经济风险等更间接变量与青少年母亲认知发展之间关联的中介。这支持了在产后早期为青少年母亲推广预防和干预项目的必要性，以减少社会经济问题并增强母亲的互动行为。
