Donna Strobino PhD, Professor & Deputy Chair, Johns Hopkins University Population & Family Health Sciences, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Room E4151 Baltimore, MD 21205 dstrobin@jhsph.edu
Abstract
The study aim is to investigate whether maternal depressive symptoms adversely affect attained size and growth of young children, using an ecologic model that frames children's and mother's characteristics within the context of the family. Medical records and survey data are obtained from the national evaluation of the Healthy Steps (HS) for Young Children Program. Medical records data on weights and length from birth to 32 months are available for over 4,700 hundred children whose mothers responded to a telephone survey at 2-4 months and who provided data about depressive symptoms based on a modified Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Additional data about the mother and child include child's sex, birth weight and general health status, maternal behaviors including infant feeding patterns and reported interactions with the infant, mother's demographic characteristics and family composition, socioeconomic status, and the father's help with the infant. Patterns of growth from birth to 24 months, z-scores and upper CDC growth charts for children 0-24 months will be compared for children whose mothers did and did not report depressive symptoms at 2-4 months; upper percentiles are defined as the risk of overweight, between the 85th to 95th percentile for weight and weight-for-length, and overweight, above the 95th percentile; the lower percentile is 10%. Growth trajectories will be examined using random-effect growth models, z-scores, using multiple linear regression models, and the upper and lower percentiles using logistic regression, adjusting for child, maternal and family characteristics. Potential mediating effects of maternal behaviors for the relation of maternal depressive symptoms with attained size will be assessed. Findings from the study have potentially important implications regarding postpartum screening of mothers for depressive symptoms and for interventions to reduce deviations of children from expected growth trajectories.
