Although there is an established link between parenting stress, postnatal depression, and anxiety, no study has yet investigated this link in first-time parental couples. The specific aims of this ...study were 1) to investigate whether there were any differences between first-time fathers' and mothers' postnatal parenting stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms and to see their evolution between three and 6 months after their child's birth; and 2) to explore how each parent's parenting stress and anxiety levels and the anxiety levels and depressive symptoms of their partners contributed to parental postnatal depression.
The sample included 362 parents (181 couples; mothers' M Age = 35.03, SD = 4.7; fathers' M Age = 37.9, SD = 5.6) of healthy babies. At three (T1) and 6 months (T2) postpartum, both parents filled out, in a counterbalanced order, the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.
The analyses showed that compared to fathers, mothers reported higher scores on postpartum anxiety, depression, and parenting stress. The scores for all measures for both mothers and fathers decreased from T1 to T2. However, a path analysis suggested that the persistence of both maternal and paternal postnatal depression was directly influenced by the parent's own levels of anxiety and parenting stress and by the presence of depression in his/her partner.
This study highlights the relevant impact and effects of both maternal and paternal stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms during the transition to parenthood. Therefore, to provide efficacious, targeted, early interventions, perinatal screening should be directed at both parents.
•Although online dating can solve several problems associated with typical dating approaches, it may be associated with psychological distress and increased risk for mental health problems.•Because ...deception is an active and complex process that can serve to regulate relationships and protect the self, adult attachment styles and self-esteem may play an important role in online dating use.•Anxiously attached women have been found to be particularly vulnerable in their use of online dating compared to secure women and to men in general.•Prevention interventions should target individual attachment styles, which in turn promote self-esteem, which in turn contributes to the healthy use of online dating.
Online Deception is growing as a topic of research due to its potential risks for mental health and behaviors. This study explored the relationships between attachment styles and intentional misrepresentation of oneself in online dating (i.e., online deception) and investigated the mediating role of self-esteem. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with voluntary Italian participants (N = 272) to test the proposed hypotheses. It was found that anxious attachment styles positively predicted online deception. Also, self-esteem was found to be mediator between anxious attachment styles and online deception, as well as between close attachment styles and online deception. Our results demonstrate the need to develop prevention interventions that target individuals’ styles of attachment that in turn foster self-esteem which co-contribute to promote a sensible and healthy use of online dating.
Internet addiction in adolescence is a social issue which is being increasingly discussed worldwide. Hence, deepening the knowledge of its development is necessary to prevent short- and long-term ...negative outcomes. This study involving 266 adolescents (mean age = 16.1 years, SD = 1.4) aimed at analyzing the relationship between quality of parental care, Internet addiction and adolescents' mental health, by means of the following self-report tools: the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Internet Addiction Test, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The findings, collected through structural equation model analyses, showed that perceived care from both father and mother had significant indirect effects on Internet addiction problems through adolescents' mental health problems. Furthermore, Internet addiction problems were demonstrated to be negatively associated with maternal care but not with paternal care. The study provides empirical support to the need of family-based prevention and intervention programs to take care of Internet addiction.
Background: The perinatal period is a particularly vulnerable period in women’s lives that implies significant physiological and psychological changes that can place women at higher risk for ...depression and anxiety symptoms. In addition, the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is likely to increase this vulnerability and the prevalence of mental health problems. This review aimed to investigate the existing literature on the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women during pregnancy and the first year postpartum. Method: The literature search was conducted using the following databases: Pubmed, Scopus, WOS—web of science, PsycInfo and Google Scholar. Out of the total of 116 initially selected papers, 17 have been included in the final work, according to the inclusion criteria. Results: The reviewed contributions report a moderate to severe impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the mental health of pregnant women, mainly in the form of a significant increase in depression—up to 58% in Spain—and anxiety symptoms—up to 72% in Canada. In addition to the common psychological symptoms, COVID-19-specific worries emerged with respect to its potential effects on pregnancy and the well-being of the unborn child. Social support and being engaged in regular physical activities appear to be protective factors able to buffer against the effects of the pandemic on maternal mental health. Conclusions: Despite the limitations of the study design, the evidence suggests that it is essential to provide appropriate psychological support to pregnant women during the emergency in order to protect their mental health and to minimize the risks of long-term effects on child development.
During the perinatal period, the establishment of the attachment relationship with the fetus and subsequently with the real child is crucial for the parents' and the child's well-being. Coherently ...with the assumption that the attachment relationship starts to develop during pregnancy, this systematic review aims to analyze and systematize studies focused on the association between pre-natal attachment and parent-to-infant attachment, in order to clarify the emerging results and provide useful information for clinical purposes. Nineteen studies were included. Sixteen researches identified a positive relationship between pre-natal attachment and parent-to-infant attachment, and three articles highlighted a negative association between antenatal attachment and post-partum bonding disorders. These results were found both in women and men, in normative and at-risk pregnancies, adopting different assessment approaches (i.e., self-report measures, observations, and projective measures). However, only small or moderate associations were found. Future studies are needed to further confirm these findings across different populations (e.g., male samples, non-normative samples or samples in disadvantaged conditions) and with different methodological approaches (e.g., observational measures). Moreover, studies would be needed in order to clarify mechanisms through which pre-natal attachment influences parent-to-infant attachment, as well as protective and risk factors which intervene between these two variables.
The mean age at childbirth in Europe has gradually increased, and it is now around 29 years of age. It has been shown that older maternal age is associated with problems of fertility; in fact, with ...increasing age, the chance of conceiving diminishes, and fetal and obstetric complications grow. Research has focused particularly on the biological risks associated with late pregnancy, both for the child and the woman. Less space has been dedicated to the potential psychological and relational benefits of motherhood at an advanced age. The aim of this review was to summarize the existing literature on this issue. Qualitative and quantitative studies were sourced from Pubmed, Science Direct, PsycINFO, and SciELO. The selected works highlight that advanced maternal age can be associated with some advantages for both mothers and their offspring in terms of physical healthcare, parenting styles, and child developmental outcomes. Specifically, the review suggests that older mothers have greater emotional maturity and feel more prepared for motherhood; also, advanced maternal age appears to exert a protective influence on children's behavioral, social, and emotional functioning, compensating for the biological risks.
Most studies investigating the role of parenting behaviors on a child's development are directed to mothers. However, recent analyses show that mothers and fathers have a different influence on a ...child's functioning, specifically her/his temperament. The present study explored the developmental change of parents' perception of their daughters' and sons' temperament and its association with parental mental health problems.
The sample included 188 parents (94 couples) and their at-term 94 babies (55.3% boys, 44.7% girls). Assessments by self-reports were conducted at 3 (Time 1) and 12 (Time 2) months after the children's birth; at Time 1, mothers and fathers independently answered: the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ-R). At Time 2, EPDS, STAI, and IBQ-R were again administered to mothers and fathers.
In general, mothers and fathers would give similar descriptions of their child's temperament throughout the first year of life; however, infant temperament showed developmental changes as well as gender differences. Mother and father anxiety and depression symptoms are associated with the infants' negative affectivity. Also, mothers with high anxiety and depression levels perceive their infants with a minor tendency to approach novelty, to seek environmental stimulation, and to express/experience positive emotions.
The results highlight the need to screen for infants' temperament vulnerabilities in the context of maternal and paternal depression in order to protect the child from behavioral, cognitive, and emotional difficulties and to create specific programs aimed at preventing dysfunctional parent-infant relationships.
An insecure attachment style is an important risk factor for psychological problems. The aim of this study was to use Bartholomew and Horowitz's model (Bartholomew and Horowitz in J Pers Soc Psychol ...61(2): 226, 2019) to test a sample of Italian individuals to determine the mediation role of loneliness and COVID-19-related anxiety symptoms in the relationship between attachment styles and mental health issues in the context of the pandemic.
A cross-sectional research study was conducted using a sample of 330 Italian participants (82.1% women; mean age = 34.3 years; SD = 13.16) who completed online self-reported measures of attachment styles (RQ), loneliness (RULS), COVID-19-related anxiety symptoms (C-19ASS) and mental health problems (GHQ-12). Serial mediation analyses were performed, and bootstrap tests were included.
Our results supported the hypothesized model with respect to each attachment style (p < 0.001). In particular, insecure attachment styles predict mental health problems both directly and indirectly, through loneliness and COVID-19-related anxiety symptoms. In addition, loneliness directly influences mental health problems and also mediates the relationship between insecure attachment styles and COVID-19-related anxiety symptoms which, in turn, positively predict mental health problems.
Our findings reinforce the importance of attachment in people's processes of adapting to experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. The study makes an important contribution to developing effective prevention and intervention strategies to support people's wellbeing in the context of the pandemic.
In the 1st year of the post-partum period, parenting stress, mental health, and dyadic adjustment are important for the wellbeing of both parents and the child. However, there are few studies that ...analyze the relationship among these three dimensions. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between parenting stress, mental health (depressive and anxiety symptoms), and dyadic adjustment among first-time parents.
We studied 268 parents (134 couples) of healthy babies. At 12 months post-partum, both parents filled out, in a counterbalanced order, the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, the Edinburgh Post-natal Depression Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the potential mediating effects of mental health on the relationship between parenting stress and dyadic adjustment.
Results showed the full mediation effect of mental health between parenting stress and dyadic adjustment. A multi-group analysis further found that the paths did not differ across mothers and fathers.
The results suggest that mental health is an important dimension that mediates the relationship between parenting stress and dyadic adjustment in the transition to parenthood.
Many studies have shown the influence of maternal perinatal depression on a child's emotional and behavioral regulation ability; yet there is scarce research on the impact of the father's perinatal ...depression on the caregiver-infant relationship and the child's development.
Through a longitudinal study, we investigated maternal and paternal depression and its association with infants' emotionality and mother-infant feeding interactions The sample was constituted of 136 first-time parents (68 couples, and their full-term babies at 3 and 6 months old). At T1 (28th week of pregnancy), T2 (three months old), and T3 (at six months age) parents responded to the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale. At Times 2 and 3, mothers and fathers completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, and recorded mother-infant interactions were coded by means of the Feeding Scale.
Statistical analyses indicated stability of maternal and paternal depression over time. Correlations emerged between mother's higher depression scores, negative affective state during interactions at three months age, infant food refusal and mother-infant interactional conflict at six months age. Paternal higher depressive scores were associated with the mother-child interactional conflict. To finish, higher parental depression scores were related with infant negative emotionality.
The current study confirms the relevance of embracing a cumulative risk model to support the child's development with early caregiver-child interventions.
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