Childhood Behavioral Inhibition and Maternal Symptoms of Depression
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The significance of behavioral inhibition in the second year of life for the development of social phobia in later childhood was the incentive to explore whether maternal postnatal psychopathology is a predictor for behavioral inhibition in the offspring. METHOD: 101 mother-infant pairs were recruited from local obstetric units and examined for maternal psychopathology by the Symptom Checklist and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale several times during the first postnatal year. Child behavioral inhibition was assessed at 14 months in a laboratory procedure. RESULTS: Postpartum depression at 4 months measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was found to be strongly associated with toddlers' fear score/behavioral inhibition at 14 months. Maternal depressive symptoms assessed by the revised 90-item Symptom Checklist at 6 weeks , 4 and 14 months were found to be related to child inhibition as well. CONCLUSIONS: Even maternal depression not reaching the level of clinical diagnosis and treatment has an impact on child behavioral development. These data should give rise to further studies on the origins of this relationship, which might be primarily genetic or interactional.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Maternal postpartum depression is associated with higher fear scores that increased behavioral inhibition.
“higher fear scores that increased behavioral inhibition.121”
From Consequences of maternal postpartum depression: A systematic review of maternal and infant outcomes (2019) · cites this paper as [121]
The Abstract (p. 1) reports that postpartum depression at four months was strongly associated with toddlers’ fear score/behavioral inhibition at 14 months. It treats fear score as a measure of behavioral inhibition; it does not establish that higher fear scores caused behavioral inhibition to increase. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredChronic maternal depression seemed to have a more serious impact on child development than transient depression.
“Some studies64,108,121 compared the impact of chronic depression versus transient depression on child development and found that chronic maternal depression seemed to have a more serious impact on child development.”
From Consequences of maternal postpartum depression: A systematic review of maternal and infant outcomes (2019) · cites this paper as [121]
The Results (p. 4) report higher child fear scores when maternal depressive symptoms rose between 6 weeks and 4 months than when they were stable or decreasing. The Discussion (p. 4) distinguishes late-onset depression from transient symptoms shortly after birth, but the paper does not establish that chronic depression has a more serious impact than transient depression. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInfants of depressed mothers have significantly higher fear scores than infants of nondepressed mothers.
“Infants of depressed mothers also had a significantly higher fear score115,121 and higher degrees of emotional disorders that included anxiety96 than infants of nondepressed mothers.”
From Consequences of maternal postpartum depression: A systematic review of maternal and infant outcomes (2019) · cites this paper as [121]
Children of mothers with low depression after birth and high depression after several months postpartum have significantly higher fear scores than children of women with decreasing or stable depressive symptomatology.
“In addition, one study showed that mothers with a low depression score after birth and a high depression score after several months postpartum had children with significantly higher fear scores than women with decreasing or stable depressive symptomatology.121”
From Consequences of maternal postpartum depression: A systematic review of maternal and infant outcomes (2019) · cites this paper as [121]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Detection of Postnatal Depression: Development of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale
Cox, J. L., Holden, J. M., & Sagovsky, R. (1987) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.150.6.782 · Cited by 14,183 · see citing works
SCL-90: an outpatient psychiatric rating scale--preliminary report.
Derogatis, L. R., Lipman, R. S., & Covi, L. (1973) · PubMed · Cited by 3,815 · see citing works
Biological Bases of Childhood Shyness
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., & Snidman, N. (1988) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.3353713 · Cited by 1,577 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Physiology and Psychology of Behavioral Inhibition in Children
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., & Snidman, N. C. (1987) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1130685 · Cited by 1,339 · see citing works
Self-citationFurther evidence of association between behavioral inhibition and social anxiety in children
Biederman, J., Hirshfeld-Becker, D. R., Rosenbaum, J. F., Hérot, C., Friedman, D., Snidman, N., Kagan, J., & Faraone, S. V. (2001) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.158.10.1673 · Cited by 655 · see citing works
Self-citationA 3-Year Follow-up of Children with and without Behavioral Inhibition
Biederman, J., Rosenbaum, J. F., Bolduc, E. A., Faraone, S. V., Chaloff, J., HIRSHFELD, D. R., & Kagan, J. (1993) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-199307000-00016 · Cited by 516 · see citing works
Self-citationStable behavioral inhibition and its association with anxiety disorder
HIRSHFELD, D. R., ROSENBAUM, J. F., BIEDERMAN, J., BOLDUC, E. A., FARAONE, S. V., SNIDMAN, N., REZNICK, J. S., & KAGAN, J. (1992) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-199201000-00016 · Cited by 491 · see citing works
Self-citationBiederman, J., Rosenbaum, J., Hirshfeld, D. R., Faraone, S., Bolduc, E. A., Gersten, M., Meminger, S., Kagan, J., Snidman, N., & Reznick, J. (1990) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1990.01810130023004 · Cited by 480 · see citing works
Self-citationField, T. M. (1992) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579400005551 · Cited by 378 · see citing works
Inhibited and Uninhibited Types of Children
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., & Gibbons, J. L. (1989) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1131025 · Cited by 373 · see citing works
Self-citationEarly childhood predictors of adult anxiety disorders
Kagan, J., & Snidman, N. C. (1999) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(99)00137-7 · Cited by 357 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Cognitive Development of 5‐Year‐Old Children of Postnatally Depressed Mothers
Murray, L., Hipwell, A. E., Hooper, R., Stein, A. L., & Cooper, P. (1996) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1996.tb01490.x · Cited by 305 · see citing works
Campbell, S. B. G., Brownell, C. A., Hungerford, A., Spieker, S. J., Mohan, R., & Blessing, J. S. (2004) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579404044499 · Cited by 295 · see citing works
The Consistency and Concomitants of Inhibition: Some of the Children, All of the Time
Rubin, K. H., Hastings, P. D., Stewart, S. L., Henderson, H. A., & Chen, X. (1997) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb01952.x · Cited by 290 · see citing works
Links Between Systems of Inhibition From Infancy to Preschool Years
Aksan, N. S., & Kochanska, G. (2004) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00752.x · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Smoller, J. W., Rosenbaum, J. F., Biederman, J., Kennedy, J. C., Dai, D., Racette, S., Laird, N. M., Kagan, J., Snidman, N. C., Hirshfeld‐Becker, D. R., et al. (2003) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(03)00598-5 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Self-citationMaternal Panic Disorder: Infant Temperament, Neurophysiology, and Parenting Behaviors
Warren, S. L., Gunnar, M. R., Kagan, J., Anders, T. F., Simmens, S. J., Rones, M., Wease, S., Aron, E. J., Dahl, R. E., & Sroufe, A. (2003) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000046872.56865.02 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Self-citationTeissèdre, F., & Chabrol, H. (2004) · L Encéphale · doi:10.1016/s0013-7006(04)95451-6 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Predicting the development of infant emotionality from maternal characteristics
Pauli‐Pott, U., Mertesacker, B., & Beckmann, D. (2004) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579404044396 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Maternal depression and child adjustment: A longitudinal analysis.
Lee, C. M., & Gotlib, I. H. (1989) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-843x.98.1.78 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Comorbidity of parental anxiety disorders as risk for childhood-onset anxiety in inhibited children
Rosenbaum, J. F., Biederman, J., Bolduc, E. A., HIRSHFELD, D. R., Faraone, S. V., & Kagan, J. (1992) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.149.4.475 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Self-citationEEG Stability in Infants/Children of Depressed Mothers
Jones, N. A., Field, T. M., Davalos, M., & Pickens, J. N. (1997) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1023/a:1025197101496 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Maternal attachment and sensitivity in an at- risk sample
Øyen, A., Landy, S., & Hilburn-Cobb, C. (2000) · Attachment & Human Development · doi:10.1080/14616730050085563 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Genetic association analysis of behavioral inhibition using candidate loci from mouse models
Smoller, J. W., Rosenbaum, J. F., Biederman, J., Susswein, L. S., Kennedy, J. F., Kagan, J., Snidman, N. C., Laird, N. M., Tsuang, M. T., Faraone, S. V., et al. (2001) · American Journal of Medical Genetics · doi:10.1002/ajmg.1328 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Self-citationPostpartum depression: identification, screening, and treatment.
Perfetti, J., Clark, R., & Fillmore, C.-M. (2004) · PubMed · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Do infants of depressed mothers cry more than other infants?
Milgrom, J., Westley, D. T., & McCloud, P. (1995) · Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health · doi:10.1111/j.1440-1754.1995.tb00789.x · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Infant Crying and Maternal Responsiveness: A Rejoinder to Gewirtz and Boyd
Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S. M. V. (1977) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1977.tb03924.x · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Prävalenz depressiver Störungen im frühen Wochenbett
Bergant, A. M., Nguyen, T., Moser, R., & Ulmer, H. (1998) · Gyn�kologisch-geburtshilfliche Rundschau · doi:10.1159/000022270 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Association of behavioral inhibition with hair pigmentation in a European sample
Möhler, E., Kagan, J., Brunner, R. M., et al. (2006) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2005.12.001 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Self-citationUntersuchungen zum Fünf-Faktoren-Modell der Persönlichkeit und seiner diagnostischen Erfassung
Borkenau, P., & Ostendorf, F. (1989) · PUB – Publications at Bielefeld University (Bielefeld University) · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Consequences of maternal postpartum depression: A systematic review of maternal and infant outcomes
Slomian, J., Honvo, G., Emonts, P., Reginster, J.-Y., & Bruyère, O. (2019) · Women's Health · doi:10.1177/1745506519844044 · Cited by 1,496 · see citing works
Tronick, E., & Reck, C. (2009) · Harvard Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/10673220902899714 · Cited by 530 · see citing works
Self-citationDubber, S., Reck, C., Müller, M., & Gawlik, S. (2015) · Archives of Women's Mental Health · doi:10.1007/s00737-014-0445-4 · Cited by 400 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Course of Postpartum Depression: A Review of Longitudinal Studies
Vliegen, N., Casalin, S., & Luyten, P. (2014) · Harvard Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/hrp.0000000000000013 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Sandman, C. A., Buss, C., Head, K., & Davis, E. P. (2015) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.06.025 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Vliegen, N., Casalin, S., Luyten, P., Docx, R., Lenaerts, M., Tang, E., & Kempke, S. (2013) · Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes · doi:10.1521/psyc.2013.76.2.150 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
- Authors
- Moehler, E., Kagan, J., Parzer, P., Brunner, R., Reck, C., Wiebel, A., Poustka, L., & Resch, F.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- Psychopathology
- Publisher
- S. Karger AG
- Published
- 2007
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 446-452
- ISSN
- 0254-4962 (ISSN-L)
- 1423-033X
- OpenAlex
- W2154736058
- Cited by
- 64
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 3.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychopathology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- behavioral inhibition, maternal depression, postpartum depression, social anxiety disorder, mother-infant dyads, child behavioral development, maternal depressive symptoms, gene-environment interaction
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Inhibition, Psychological, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mother-Child Relations, Phobic Disorders, Infant Behavior, Depression, Postpartum
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
