[PS-2.17]Mother-infant interactions: The impact of maternal depression and anxiety upon infants' language environment and vocalisations

Brookman, R. , Kalashnikova, M. , Conti, J. & Burnham, D.

Western Sydney University

Infancy is a time period associated with rapid social-emotional and language development. Environmental influences such as the quantity and quality of infant-directed speech (IDS) assist in shaping early developmental capacities. One factor that can influence early mother-infant interactions is maternal depression, which can negatively impact mothers' responsiveness towards their infants and indirectly compromise early development. However, research examining maternal emotional health and infant linguistic outcomes has been limited to laboratory settings, so the relationship between maternal depression and anxiety and the quantity of IDS at home is unknown. The present study investigated the home language environment of 6-month-old infants. Mother-infant dyads were classified into at-risk (n=12) and control groups (n=11) based on maternal psychological history and postnatal depression and anxiety measures. Home audio recordings of a typical day were analysed using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system. Our findings demonstrate that 6-month-old infants whose mothers were in the at-risk group produced fewer vocalisations in daily interactions. Furthermore, overall maternal depression scores were significantly correlated to the number of infant vocalisations and conversational turns during mother-infant interactions. These findings and clinical implications will be discussed in relation to the effects of maternal depression to maternal responsiveness and other qualities of IDS.