Maternal mental illness, mother-infant interactions and maternal cognitive functioning

Abstract

The influence of maternal mental illness on children’s physical, cognitive and emotional development is an area of concern to researchers and health professionals.  The literature review considers the issue of parenting by mothers diagnosed with a mental illness, with particular reference to the impact of maternal mental illness on the quality of mother-infant interactions.  Studies of mothers diagnosed with depression or schizophrenia have found important differences in the quality of these interactions, as compared to mothers with no psychiatric history (Cohn, Campbell, Matias, & Hopkins, 1990, Murray, Fiori-Cowley, Hooper & Cooper, 1996, Riordan, Appleby & Faragher, 1999).  The review proposes that these differences may be at least partly explained by the cognitive impairments associated with serious mental illness.

The empirical paper reports an exploratory study examining the relationship between maternal mental illness, the quality of mother-infant interactions and maternal cognitive functioning.  The study replicates previous research by demonstrating that mothers with mental illness are significantly less sensitive when interacting with their infants, as compared to mothers with no mental illness.  Poor cognitive functioning in mothers with mental illness was demonstrated, but only on Speed of Memory Processing.  The presence of maternal mental illness was found to be a significant predictor of maternal sensitivity.  When cognition (Speed of Memory Processing) was taken into account, the strength of this relationship was reduced, suggesting that the relationship between maternal mental illness and mother-infant interaction may be mediated by level of cognitive function.

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