Parent To Parent: The Affect Of Postnatal Depression On The Children
Doreen T. Westley, Monash University, Clayton, Vic., Aust.and Professor Jeannette Milgrom, Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre, Victoria
Correspondence to: Doreen T. Westley, 7 Attey Street, Manly West, Qld. 4179, Australia Ph: 61 7 3396 5668
- Objective: To investigate the perceptions of women who had suffered from postnatal depression of their own parents and the affect that had on their children when the children were forty-two months old.
- Method: The women were recruited when their infants were 3months old. 28 women from the postnatal group and 30 of the non-depressed filled in the scale when their infants were 42 months old. The participants filled in various questionnaires in relation to our they perceived their parents and how they felt they were parenting and what affects they were having on their children in relation to behaviour. The children were tested to ascertain if there was a difference between the two groups for cognitive development. They were also videotaped to see if there was a difference in the attachment between mother and child.
- Results: The depressed groups perceived their parents in a more negative way than the non-depressed group and felt they were treated differently to their other siblings. In relation to their own ability to parent they felt under stress and were at risk for development of dysfunctional parenting. The children of the depressed mothers were experiencing behaviour problems, difference in cognitive development and insecure attachment to their mother.
- Conclusion: The postnatal group perceived the parenting they received as more negative than the non-depressed group. Also, they were experiencing parenting difficulties and the children appeared to be affected by their mother's depression.
