Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38625659›Full record

ArticleChild psychiatry and human development2026

Mother-Infant Interaction and Maternal Postnatal Psychological Distress Associate with Child's Social-Emotional Development During Early Childhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

Hetti Lahtela, Marjo Flykt, Saara Nolvi, Eeva-Leena Kataja, Eeva Eskola, Katja Tervahartiala, Juho Pelto, Alice S Carter, Hasse Karlsson, Linnea Karlsson and 1 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Child psychiatry and human development, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.2field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Hetti LahtelaFinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. helaht@utu.fi.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6165-0846
Marjo FlyktDepartment of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0874-4357
Saara NolviFinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4959-1473
Eeva-Leena KatajaFinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9324-380X
Eeva EskolaFinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8364-399X
Katja TervahartialaFinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Juho PeltoFinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Alice S CarterDepartment of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, USA.
Hasse KarlssonFinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4992-1893
Linnea KarlssonFinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4725-0176
Riikka KorjaFinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6833-1565
University of Turku · FIUniversity of Helsinki · FIUniversity of Massachusetts Boston · US

Funding

Academy of Finland 325292Research Council of Finland 346121
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We studied the effects of mother-infant interaction and maternal pre- and postnatal psychological distress on children's social-emotional problems and competences, as well as whether interaction quality moderates the association between distress and children's outcomes. Maternal pre- and postnatal psychological distress were measured using the SCL and EPDS questionnaires, whereas mother-infant interaction was measured when the child was 8 months old using the EA Scales. Children's social-emotional development was measured using the BITSEA questionnaire at 2 years old and using the SDQ questionnaire at 4 years old, where higher maternal structuring was associated with fewer social-emotional problems in children and higher maternal sensitivity was associated with greater social-emotional competence in children at 2 years old. Further, higher postnatal distress was found associated with greater social-emotional problems at 2 years old, though neither these effects nor moderating effects at 4 years old were observed after multiple-comparison corrections. Our findings support direct associations of both mother-infant interaction and maternal postnatal psychological distress with children's social-emotional development during toddlerhood.

Indexed as

Child DevelopmentMother-Child RelationsMothersPsychological DistressSocial SkillsAdultBirth CohortChild, PreschoolFemaleFinlandHumansInfantMaleChild social-emotional developmentMaternal psychological distressMother–infant interactionSocial competence

Identifiers

PMID38625659
PMCPMC12971811
OpenAlexW4394845842

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.