Social Circumstances, Parenting Techniques, and Infant Development

Developmental research consistently shows that postpartum depression has a negative impact on cognitive and emotional development during infancy and childhood. Low SES women face unique stressors and social challenges. Rates of postpartum depression are significantly higher in this group (23-33%) than in the general population (10-15%). The purpose of this study is to understand how social circumstances, women's mood, and parenting techniques affect infant and child development. Specifically, investigators are interested in finding out whether a behavioral intervention, already being administered in IRB approved protocol #6285, targeting maternal caregiving of young infants can increase infant sleep and reduce fuss/cry behavior, thereby reducing the incidence and/or severity of maternal depression and anxiety symptoms, improving the quality of the mother-infant interaction, and improving infant developmental outcomes. By collecting stress reports from women from low SES backgrounds during pregnancy and the postpartum period and by conducting follow-up observational assessments of the quality of mother-infant interaction, infant learning, infant cortisol reactivity, and infant neurocognitive development, investigators hope to identify whether this intervention can effectively meet these aims.