Relation between social withdrawal symptoms in full-term and premature infants and depressive symptoms in mothers: A longitudinal study

The objective of this longitudinal study was to investigate the prevalence of infants' social withdrawal and mothers’ depressive symptoms in a cohort of full-term infants and their mothers and in a cohort of moderately premature infants and their mothers at 3, 6, and 9 months’ postpartum. The Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) was used to assess social withdrawal; the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was administered to ascertain postpartum depressive symptoms. The results revealed a higher proportion of premature infants with social withdrawal at 6 months’ postpartum and significantly higher ADBB composite scores at 3 and 6 months of age, as compared with the full-term infants. A higher proportion of mothers in the premature cohort had symptoms of postpartum depression at the 3-month assessment, and they reported a significantly higher EPDS composite score at 3 months’ postpartum. There was a significant relation between maternal depressive symptoms at 3 and 6 months and infants’ social withdrawal at 9 months, and a significant concurrent relation between the two variables at 6 and 9 months in the full-term cohort. The findings suggest a need to screen for both infant social withdrawal and maternal depressive symptoms in moderately prematurely born infants and their caregivers.