Role of Clinical Diagnosis and Medication Use in Effects of Maternal Depression on Infant‐Directed Speech
Abstract
Infant-directed (ID) speech was recorded from mothers as they interacted with their 4- to 12-month-old infants. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that two variables, age of the mother and mother's diagnosed depression, independently accounted for significant proportions of the variance in the extent of change in fundamental frequency (ΔF0). Specifically, depressed mothers produced ID speech with smaller ΔF0 than did nondepressed mothers, and older mothers produced ID speech with larger ΔF0 than did younger mothers. Mothers who were taking antidepressant medication and who were diagnosed as being in at least partial remission produced ID speech with mean ΔF0 values that were comparable to those of nondepressed mothers. These results demonstrate explicit associations between major depressive disorder and an acoustic attribute of ID speech that is highly salient to young infants.
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Mothers exhibiting post-partum depression tend to speak less to their infants overall, and their infant-directed speech is reduced in both quantity and quality.
“For example, mothers exhibiting post-partum depression tend to speak less to their infants overall, and their infant-directed speech is reduced in both quantity and quality [31,32].”
Mothers in remission from PND expressed similar fundamental frequency to non-depressed mothers, indicating effects of PND on IDS can be reduced when depressive symptoms are reduced.
“Notably, mothers in remission from PND expressed a similar fundamental frequency (pitch) to non-depressed mothers [30], which indicates that the effects of PND on IDS can be reduced when depressive symptoms are reduced.”
From Effect of maternal depression on infant-directed speech to prelinguistic infants: Implications for language development (2020) · cites this paper as [30]
Studies by Bettes, Kaplan, and Porritt demonstrate links between PND and diminished pitch variation, particularly in IDS within structured play contexts.
“Together, the studies by Bettes et al. [29], Kaplan et al. [30] and Porritt et al. [31] are important because they demonstrate links between PND and diminished pitch variation, particularly in IDS within structured play contexts when lexical content and the type of interaction are afforded greater control.”
From Effect of maternal depression on infant-directed speech to prelinguistic infants: Implications for language development (2020) · cites this paper as [30]
American and British mothers experiencing PND speak to their infants with less vocal pitch variation, poorer temporal responses to infant cues, and fewer affective or informative words in IDS.
“Taken together, the evidence suggests that American and British mothers experiencing PND speak to their infants with less vocal pitch variation [29–31], poorer temporal responses to infant cues [29] and fewer affective or informative words in IDS [32].”
From Effect of maternal depression on infant-directed speech to prelinguistic infants: Implications for language development (2020) · cites this paper as [30]
Kaplan et al. observed flattened vocal pitch among mothers at 4-12 months postpartum when asked to encourage infant to play with a soft toy.
“In 2001 Kaplan and colleagues similarly observed a flattened vocal pitch among a sample of 50 mothers at 4–12 months postpartum when mothers were asked to encourage the infant to play with a soft toy using the phrase “pet the gorilla” [30].”
From Effect of maternal depression on infant-directed speech to prelinguistic infants: Implications for language development (2020) · cites this paper as [30]
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“In 2001 Kaplan and colleagues similarly observed a flattened vocal pitch among a sample of 50 mothers at 4–12 months postpartum when mothers were asked to encourage the infant to play with a soft toy using the phrase “pet the gorilla” [30].”
BackgroundResultInfluentialMaternal depression and sex differences shape the infants’ trajectories of cognitive development
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Self-citationGoble, G., Hennessy, V., Cheng, T.-H. Z., Rodda, A., Taulu, S., Gordon, R. L., & Zhao, T. C. (2026) · PLOS One · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0335596
- Authors
- Kaplan, P. S., Bachorowski, J., Smoski, M. J., & Zinser, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Colorado Denver (US)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kaplan, Peter S.
- Venue
- Infancy
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2001-10
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 537-548
- ISSN
- 1525-0008 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7078
- OpenAlex
- W2011309198
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 8 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 4.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Infancy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Infant Health and Development
- Keywords
- maternal depression, infant-directed speech, major depressive disorder, fundamental frequency, maternal age, antidepressants, depression remission, speech acoustics, mother-infant interaction, infant language development
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