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Updated: May 3, 2026

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
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Maternal self-confidence postpartum and at pre-school age: the role of depression, anxiety disorders, maternal

Anna-Lena Zietlow1, Myriam Kim Schlüter, Nora Nonnenmacher

  • 1Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, General Psychiatry, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.

Maternal and Child Health Journal
|January 30, 2014
PubMed

The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of maternal postpartum depression and/or anxiety disorders according to DMS-IV on maternal self-confidence throughout infancy and early childhood. Exploratively, associations between maternal attachment insecurity and maternal self-confidence at pre-school age were examined. The sample (N = 54) of this prospective longitudinal study was comprised of n = 27 women with postpartum depression and/or anxiety disorders according to DSM-IV criteria and n = 27 healthy women without present or history of mental health disorders or psychotherapy. Data was collected in the postpartum period (M = 60.08 days) and at pre-school age (M = 4.7 years). Subjects were recruited between 2004 and 2011 in South Germany. Data revealed a significant difference in maternal self-confidence between clinical and control group at child's pre-school age: Women with postpartum depression and/or anxiety disorder scored lower on maternal self-confidence than healthy controls, but only if they had current SCID-diagnoses or partly remitted symptoms. According to explorative analyses maternal attachment insecurity turned out to be the strongest predictor of maternal self-confidence at pre-school age besides maternal mental health status. The results emphasize the impact of attachment insecurity and maternal mental health regarding maternal self-confidence leading to potential adverse long-term consequences for the mother-child relationship. Attachment based interventions taking maternal self-confidence into account are needed.

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