Infant crying predicts real-time fluctuations in maternal mental health in ecologically valid home settings
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9788801 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kaya de Barbaro (0000-0001-6316-0085, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author), Megan Micheletti (0000-0002-7197-7172, The University of Texas at Austin), Xuewen Yao (0000-0001-9591-5999, The University of Texas at Austin), Priyanka Khante (0000-0001-7020-8104, The University of Texas at Austin), Mckensey Johnson (0000-0003-1210-511X, The University of Texas at Austin), Sherryl H Goodman (0000-0002-6653-2961, Emory University), Sherryl Goodman |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 733-744 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Developmental Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0012-1649 • E-ISSN: 1939-0599 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/dev0001530 |
| PMID | 36848043 |
| OpenAlex | W4322493606 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 12 |
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 ( N = 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)
Affect (linguistics · Anxiety · Crying · Depression (economics · Developmental psychology · Feeling · MEDLINE · Mental health · Psychiatry · PsycINFO · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Infant Health and Development · Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior · Psychology · Social Psychology
On the Practical Interpretability of Cross-Lagged Panel Models
Parenting and infant sleep
Ambulatory Assessment
Protection and Damage from Acute and Chronic Stress
The Disaggregation of Within-Person and Between-Person Effects in Longitudinal Models of Change
Postpartum Depression
Ecological Momentary Assessment
A thorough evaluation of the Language Environment Analysis (Lena) system
Sequences of toddler negative emotion and parent–toddler verbal communication during a waking day
Interpreting infant vocal distress
Dispositional negativity
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |