Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Texas at Austin.
Dev Psychol. 2023 Apr;59(4):733-744. doi: 10.1037/dev0001530. Epub 2023 Feb 27.
Exposure to infant crying is a well-established predictor of mothers' mental health. However, this association may reflect many potential mechanisms. Capturing dynamic fluctuations in mothers' states simultaneously with caregiving experiences is necessary to identify the real-time processes influencing mental health. In this study, we leveraged ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) and infant-worn audio recorders to capture variability in mothers' mental health symptoms and their exposure to infant crying over one week in a racially and socio-economically diverse urban North-American sample ( = 53). We use multilevel modeling to characterize within- and between-person effects of crying on maternal negative affect and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Within participants, when infants cried more than average in the 10 min, 1 hr, and 8 hr prior to an EMA report, mothers' negative affect subsequently increased, controlling for mean levels of infant crying. In contrast to findings from laboratory studies, in everyday settings crying exposure did not immediately increase feelings of depression. Only when crying was above average for 8 hr prior to EMA did mothers report increases in subsequent depression symptoms, suggesting that the effects of crying on maternal mental health take hours to unfold in ecologically valid home settings. Between participants, mothers of infants who cried more on average did not report higher negative affect or symptoms of depression or anxiety. Overall, our findings reveal that crying exposure dynamically influences maternal negative affect and depression but not anxiety in ecologically valid real-world settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
婴儿哭声的暴露是母亲心理健康的一个既定预测因素。然而，这种关联可能反映了许多潜在的机制。同时捕捉母亲状态的动态波动和育儿经历，对于识别影响心理健康的实时过程是必要的。在这项研究中，我们利用生态瞬时评估（EMA）和婴儿佩戴的音频记录器，在一个种族和社会经济多样化的北美城市样本中（n = 53），在一周的时间内捕捉母亲心理健康症状及其暴露于婴儿哭声的变化。我们使用多层模型来描述哭声对母亲负性情绪和抑郁、焦虑症状的个体内和个体间影响。在参与者内部，当婴儿在 EMA 报告前 10 分钟、1 小时和 8 小时内哭声超过平均值时，母亲的负性情绪随后会增加，同时控制婴儿哭声的平均水平。与实验室研究的结果相反，在日常环境中，哭声暴露并不会立即增加抑郁感。只有当 EMA 前 8 小时内的哭声平均值以上时，母亲才会报告随后抑郁症状的增加，这表明哭声对母亲心理健康的影响需要数小时才能在生态有效的家庭环境中显现。在参与者之间，婴儿哭声平均值较高的母亲报告的负性情绪或抑郁或焦虑症状没有更高。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，在生态有效的真实环境中，哭声暴露会动态地影响母亲的负性情绪和抑郁，但不会影响焦虑。
