Caresses and coos: Examining long-term effects of a perinatal depression preventive intervention on parental warmth

Parental warmth plays a critical role in child development and can have long-term impacts on attachment and other psychosocial outcomes. Perinatal depression-depression occurring during pregnancy or the first year postpartum-can hinder parenting practices such as parental warmth, as symptoms of depression may render mothers less sensitive and responsive to their children's cues and needs. This study explores whether recipients of Mothers and Babies (MB), a cognitive-behavioral perinatal depression preventive intervention, exhibit greater parental warmth than participants receiving community-based home visiting care as usual. Using data from a substudy of a longitudinal observational study, we assessed verbal and physical expressions of warmth among 103 mother-child dyads via virtual observational assessments at 42 months postpartum. Warmth was operationalized using two codes from the Brief Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment. Results revealed no statistically significant differences between MB and control participants in either the amount or quality of verbal and physical warmth exhibited toward their children. These findings suggest that, while MB is effective at reducing perinatal depressive symptoms, it may not yield sustained effects on parental warmth, suggesting the potential need for postpartum booster sessions tailored toward parenting outcomes. Strengths include the use of direct observation and the engagement of a low-income, racially and ethnically diverse sample; limitations involve sample size and the length of time between intervention receipt and observational assessment. Future research should explore how to enhance the intergenerational impact of MB and other evidence-based perinatal depression interventions, by targeting parenting behaviors more directly. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).