The Relationship between Maternal Mental Health and the Development of Infants Under One Year of Age

Maternal mental health is one of the factors affecting the development of the child, especially in the early years of life. Since lack of attention to development of infants and the following complications may lead to irreparable consequences, this study was performed to investigate the relationship between maternal mental health and the development of infants under one year of age.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 200 mothers with infants aged 12 months who referred to Babol health centers in 2018. The required data were collected using demographic questionnaire, Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) (score 21 and below means health and 22 and above means disorder) and the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (scores between 20-34 are minimum, 35-45 mild, 46-54 average and greater than or equal to 57 are defined as severe).

The mean age of mothers in this study was 29.8±5.13 years. 29% of mothers had symptoms of mental disorder. The mean score of maternal general health was 19.20±11.89 and the mean score of the depression component was 2.45±3.62. In Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, there was a difference in infant weight index between growth percentiles of 15-50% and 50-85% at birth (p=0.015). However, no significant difference was observed with the growth process. Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) did not show a significant relationship with infants weight, height and head circumference at the end of one year. All infants had a normal growth pattern in all three indices of weight, height and head circumference.

The results showed that there is a relationship between maternal mental health and infant birth weight. But in the growth process, there is no relationship between infants growth indicators and mothers mental health.