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May 17, 2008
Research suggests depressed mothers may place babies, toddlers at risk for injury
The UPI (5/16) reports that babies "and toddlers whose mothers are severely depressed are almost three times more likely to suffer injuries than other children," according to a study published in the Advanced Access edition of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology. Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham "examined a sample of 1,364 mothers..., who were periodically asked to list all their children's injuries, as well as how often they themselves experienced symptoms of depression."
According to PsychCentral (5/15, Nauert), "Only 2.5 percent of the mothers in the sample reported severe, clinical depression, and 15.5 percent reported being moderately depressed." The investigators "found that young children, from birth to three years, whose mothers suffered severe, chronic depression, were three times more likely to experience accidental injuries than infants and toddlers whose mothers were only moderately depressed." Notably, the "link between severe, chronic depression in mothers and injuries in young children remained consistent, even when taking into account the families' socio-economic status, parenting styles, and the children's sex, temperament, and behavior."
The authors theorized that "[a] likely cause for the link between severe maternal depression and young children's injury risk is that chronically depressed mothers may not appropriately safeguard the physical environments that children engage in." Alternately, symptoms of depression, which "include inattention, poor concentration, and irritability,...'might lead to poor or inconsistent supervision and enforcement of safety-related rules,'" the authors suggested.
The Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry recently awarded its Outstanding Merit Award to "Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies," a program of the Child Center and Adult Services Inc. of Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Related Links:
- "Mom's depression linked to kid's injuries," United Press International, May 15, 2008.
- "Depressed Moms Place Kids at Risk for Injury," Rick Nauert, Ph.D., PsychCentral, May 15, 2008.
- ABSTRACT "Chronic Maternal Depression and Children's Injury Risk," avid C. Schwebel, PhD and Carl M. Brezausek, MS, Journal of Pediatric Psychiatry, May 12, 2008.
Posted by admin at May 17, 2008 05:29 PM