Maternal Depression: The Effects on Young Children Maternal Depression includes a wide range of mood disorders that can affect a woman during pregnancy and after the birth of her child. Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders in U.S especially in women who are expecting a child or are already a mother. Approximately 12% of women in the U.S. suffer with some kind of depression every year. () Maternal depression also can be connected to how a child develops. The mother's depression can have a huge impact on the child's physical, emotional, social, academic, and cognitive abilities. What exactly are the effects on young children due to maternal depression? It is the behavioral changes that occur in a child due to the depression of his or her mother. The causes of depression in a mother can be broken down into four different categories: genetic (i.e. present in families past), biochemical (i.e. chemical Imbalance in the mother) , environmental (i.e. divorce or death in family), and psychological (i.e. postpartum and prenatal depression,). What cause the behavioral problems in the child are due to the changes in the relationship between the depressed mother and their child. Their relationship is often not as interactive as relationships between non-depressed mothers. The mother often shows less attentiveness and responsiveness to what their child may need. The mother also acts as poor role model for their child they often don’t set limits on their children and if they do they do not follow through with them. This can cause the child to be non-compliant to them and other adults and peers. There is no exact estimate of how many children in the U.S suffer from behavioral problems due to their mother’s depression. This is because there are no specific specifications for diagnosing children with problems caused by their mother's M.D. However AD Cox stated in her article "Maternal depression and impacts on children's development" that it is approximately two to three times more likely for a child to have a behavior problems if the mother was depressed than if she was not. The behavioral manifestations of this condition are unknown because depression varies from person to person, and no child is the same on how they act. Therefore there is no possibility of a universal symptom for children suffering as a result of their mothers’ depression. How this condition impacts the child's communication can be broken down into two parts: academically and socially. A child's rate of learning often suffers due to the lack of communication and interaction that they are getting at home. So when the child does finally get into an academic setting, they are often behind the average child their age in things like reading and writing. Also children that come from depressed mothers often have trouble in their social skills, such as learning how to express their feelings to family adults and peers. When interacting with others they normally act violent or aggressive to explain their needs. For example when the child may want a toy, instead of verbally asking for it they will more likely scream, yell, cry, or hit until someone get it for them. The behaviors that might be seen due to maternal depression can be split into two groups: externalizing and internalizing. Some examples of externalizing are aggressiveness, noncompliance, defiance, receptiveness, disruptiveness, and dangerous to others. More specifically the child may yell at classmates, swear, kick teachers, refuse to help clean when asked, or try to hit their peers. Some internalizing behaviors may be withdrawal, depression, shyness, and phobias. Some more operationalized behaviors can include: refusal to talk, crying often, rarely smiling, hiding behind parents when introduced to new people and etc. These behaviors occur because children participate in interactive routines with their mothers repeatedly every day. So when a child sees their mother act hostile or mean towards their activities or not have interest in them it makes them not want to do them anymore. This causes the child to experience anger and turn away from their mother and their way of coping often results in internalizing behaviors. So because of their mothers’ unresponsive and disengaged behaviors they find it hard to cope with their own feelings and never learn the correct way of expressing those feelings. The main way a young child learns to behave is through their environment at home with their mother. So by the mother not giving the child the attention they need, the child never figures out the correct way to behave and is more likely to be in a negative mood and have problems solving their own situations. The child will also have problems developing trusting relationships and will have problems handling stress later on in life this due to the lack of their mother being there for them because the mother is too caught up in her own depression. Based on my research and knowledge from this class some strategies I would recommend when working with victims of maternal depression would be to first determine a baseline remembering that the child is your patient not the mother. You should also try to discover all the environments, antecedents, operationalized behaviors, and consequences involved in the child’s problem areas. Next I would create a behavioral objective making sure you are keeping the parents aware of the goals, this way they may be able to help with these goals at home. I would also make sure you maintain a good relationship with the parents in order to understand the child’s home life and to encourage the suffering mother to reinforce her child at home. This way you are applying generalization to the child’s intervention and they will learn not only to change their behaviors for you and in your classroom, but other people and environments. When first starting I would suggest keeping the clinician-child relationship as positive as possible. For example I would advise using noncontingent reinforcement this way the child will learn to trust you. Also I would use positive reinforcement rather than negative reinforcement so you can avoid being seen as the punisher, this is because you do not know how they are treated at home. If you come across in a mean way they may try to avoid you and you will not be able to get through to them. A big factor in this disorder is TRUST they need to be able to feel comfortable around you. Lastly and most importantly I would be sure to teach them self-reinforcement, they need be able to know they are doing well without someone reinforcing them. This is because the depressed mother may be to consume in her own problems to be able to reinforce the child at home. In conclusion, I believe children affected by their mothers’ depression is a huge problem in the U.S today. By being aware of this problem we will be able to help the child to the best of our abilities.

Reference Page

Canadian pediatric society, . (2004). Maternal depression and child development. Pediatric child health, 9(8), Retrieved from http://www.cps.ca/english.statements.PP/pp04-03.htm

Cummings, EM, & Kouros, CD. (2009). Center of excellence for early childhood Development. Maternal depression and its relation to child development and adjustment. Retrieved (2010, February 19) from http://www.enfantencyclopedie.com/pages/PDF/Cummings-KourosANGxp.pdf

Cox, AD. (1988). Maternal depression and impact on children's development. Archives of disease in childhood, 63, 90-95.

Knitzer, J, Theberge, S, & Johnson, K. (2008, January). Reducing maternal depression and its impact on young children. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_791.html