ArticleDevelopmental psychobiology2020
Hair cortisol in pregnancy interacts with maternal depressive symptoms to predict maternal disrupted interaction with her infant at 4 months.
Article in Developmental psychobiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review of associations between hormone levels in hair and peripartum depression.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review of hair cortisol during pregnancy: Reference ranges and methodological considerations.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2020Pooled it
- Associations between infant social withdrawal and disorganized attachment.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Maternal cortisol and parenting in infants' first 6 months: The moderating role of family stress.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- Negative versus withdrawn maternal behavior: Differential associations with infant gray and white matter during the first 2 years of life.Human brain mapping · 2023Article
- Threat versus deprivation in mother's childhood: Differential relations to hair cortisol and psychopathology in pregnancy.Child abuse & neglect · 2023Article
- Atypical maternal interaction is associated with elevated levels of hair cortisol in children.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
- A biopsychosocial perspective on maternal parenting in the first two years of infant life.Behavioural brain research · 2021Article
- An exploratory study of perinatal hair cortisol concentrations in mother-infant dyads with severe psychiatric disorders versus healthy controls.BJPsych open · 2021Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
Disrupted maternal interaction in early infancy is associated with maladaptive child outcomes. Thus, identifying early risk factors for disrupted interaction is an important challenge. Research suggests that maternal depressive symptoms and maternal cortisol dysregulation are associated with disrupted maternal interaction, but both factors have rarely been considered together as independent or interactive predictors of disrupted interaction. In a sample of 51 women, hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) and depressive symptoms were assessed during pregnancy, and depressive symptoms were assessed again at 4-month postpartum. Maternal disrupted interaction was assessed during the Still-Face Paradigm at 4 months. Results indicated that HCC and depressive symptoms interacted to predict both maternal withdrawing and inappropriate/intrusive interaction. Withdrawing interaction was associated with high levels of HCC in pregnancy in the context of high depressive symptoms at 4 months; inappropriate/intrusive interaction was associated with high levels of HCC in the context of low depressive symptoms. Thus, high HCC potentiated both forms of disrupted interaction. Results raised questions about the meaning of very low reported depressive symptoms, and underscored the importance of chronic stress physiology and maternal depressed mood as risk factors for distinct forms of maternal disrupted interaction, both of which are deleterious for infant development.
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