MATERNAL POSTPARTUM DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AND 4-MONTH MOTHER-INFANT INTERACTION

Associations of 6-week maternal depressive symptoms (CES-D) with 4-month mother-infant self- and interactive contingency patterns during face-to-face play were investigated in a community sample of 132 dyads. Self- and interactive contingency were defined as predictability within (self-contingency) and between (interactive contingency) two partners' behavioral steams over time. Infant and mother attention (gaze), affect (facial, vocal), spatial orientation, and touch behaviors were coded second-by-second from split-screen videotape, and a multimodal measure of facial-visual "engagement" was constructed. With higher depressive symptoms, the self-contingency of both partners was lowered in most modalities; there was a lowered ability to anticipate one's own next move, which is metaphorically a "destabilization." With higher depressive symptoms, interactive contingency values were both heightened (in some modalities) and lowered (in others), varying by partner, and consistent with an optimum midrange model. Thus, interactive contingency patterns associated with depressive symptoms manifested as both heightened and dampened coordination with the partner. With higher depressive symptoms, interactive contingency showed the following patterns: (a) mother and infant reciprocal orientational sensitivity; (b) mother and infant reciprocal intermodal discordance-a lowered gaze coordination but heightened affective coordination; and (c) "infant approach, mother withdraw"-as infants heightened, but mothers lowered, touch coordination with the partner's touch. The analysis of separate modalities revealed striking, complex intermodal discordances which were forms of intrapersonal and dyadic conflict, with relevance for therapeutic intervention.