Prenatal depression and young low-income mothers' perception of their children from pregnancy through early childhood

This study investigates the role of prenatal depression on young mothers' perception of difficulty in child behavior and parent-child interaction from pregnancy through the first two years of child development. 248 low-income, African American women aged between 13 and 21 years reported on their perceptions of child behavior, parent-child interaction, and on depressive symptoms at the third trimester of pregnancy and at 4-, 12- and 24-months postpartum. During pregnancy, a high percentage (47%) of the young mothers scored above the clinical level of prenatal depressive symptoms. These mothers anticipated and perceived significantly more child difficulty and parent-child interaction difficulty than did non-depressed mothers during pregnancy and over the first two years of the child's development. Moreover, prenatal depression uniquely predicted negative maternal perception throughout the early years of child development even after adjusting for postpartum depression history. The enduring association between prenatal depression and a mother's perception of her child is discussed with respect to the importance of pregnancy in mothers' developing mental schema about their children and the emerging parent-child relationship.