Beato Ana Filipa, Albuquerque Sara, Kömürcü Akik Burcu, da Costa Leonor Pereira, Salvador Ágata
Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab (HEI-Lab), Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal.
Research Center in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Front Psychol. 2022 May 26;13:858356. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.858356. eCollection 2022.
History of depression symptoms, including before and during pregnancy, has been identified as an important risk factor for postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms. This condition has also been associated with diverse implications, namely, on the quality of mother-infant bonding. Moreover, the role of self-criticism on PPD has been recently found in several studies. However, the link between these factors has not been explored yet. Furthermore, anxiety symptoms in postpartum has been less studied.
This study analyzed whether the history of depression symptoms predicted mother-infant bonding, self-criticism and PPD symptoms. The same model was repeated with a history of anxiety and postpartum anxiety symptoms. A total of 550 mothers of infants <24 months old participated in this cross-sectional study and answered an online survey.
Through a parallel-serial mediation model, the results show that in a first step, self-criticism dimensions of inadequate-self, hated-self, and reassuring-self, and in a second step, PPD symptoms, mediate the relationship between the history of depression symptoms and mother-infant bonding. However, the relationship between the history of anxiety symptoms and bonding is not mediated by all the considered chain of mediators, being only mediated by one of the self-criticism dimensions, inadequate self.
The current study confirmed the association of history of both depression and anxiety with mother-infant bonding. While in the case of history of anxiety symptoms, the relation was only mediated by inadequate self-dimension of self-criticism, in the case of history of depression symptoms, the relation was mediated by self-criticism and postpartum depressive symptoms. The buffering effect of reassuring-self on bonding and negative affect was also evidenced. Psychological and preventive interventions should address this evidence to target interventions for mother-infant bonding problems in accordance with previous and actual current maternal risk factors.
抑郁症状史，包括孕期前和孕期中的症状，已被确定为产后抑郁症（PPD）症状的一个重要风险因素。这种情况还与多种影响相关，即对母婴依恋质量的影响。此外，近期多项研究发现了自我批评对产后抑郁症的作用。然而，这些因素之间的联系尚未得到探讨。此外，产后焦虑症状的研究较少。
本研究分析了抑郁症状史是否能预测母婴依恋、自我批评和产后抑郁症症状。对焦虑史和产后焦虑症状采用相同模型进行分析。共有550名24个月以下婴儿的母亲参与了这项横断面研究，并回答了一项在线调查。
通过平行序列中介模型，结果显示，第一步，自我不足、自我厌恶和自我安慰等自我批评维度，第二步，产后抑郁症症状，在抑郁症状史与母婴依恋之间起中介作用。然而，焦虑症状史与母婴依恋之间的关系并非由所有考虑的中介链介导，仅由自我批评维度之一“自我不足”介导。
当前研究证实了抑郁史和焦虑史与母婴依恋之间的关联。在焦虑症状史的情况下，这种关系仅由自我批评的自我不足维度介导；而在抑郁症状史的情况下，这种关系由自我批评和产后抑郁症状介导。自我安慰对母婴依恋和负面影响的缓冲作用也得到了证实。心理和预防干预应根据先前和当前实际的母亲风险因素，针对这些证据来针对母婴依恋问题进行干预。
