ArticleArchives of women's mental health2025
Postpartum maternal depression, mother-to-infant bonding, and their association with child difficulties in sixth grade.
Article in Archives of women's mental health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Optimal dose of aerobic exercise for improving postpartum depression, anxiety, and quality of life: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and dose-response analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Obstetric anesthesia and postpartum mental health: implications from delivery to long-term recovery.Anesthesia and pain medicine · 2026Review
- Parental Identity Development Processes as Predictors of Personal Growth During the Transition to Parenthood Among First-Time Expecting Mothers and Fathers.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Association between mealtime regularity and breakfast frequency with postpartum depression in first-time Japanese mothers: a cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- The relationship between maternal attachment, maternal self-efficacy, and postpartum depressive symptoms in mothers during the early postpartum period: a cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Latent profiles and associated factors of mother-infant bonding among mothers of preterm infants: a cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Prenatal maternal depression and child behavioural and developmental outcomes: an individual participant data meta-analysis in 76,514 children from the EU Child Cohort Network.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Article
- Maternal Stress and Child Development: The Moderating Role of Interactive Shared Reading.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposePostpartum maternal mental health plays a crucial role in the development of children's social and emotional competencies. This study aimed to investigate the influence of postpartum maternal depression and mother-to-infant bonding on children's emotional and behavioral difficulties in sixth grade.
methodsData from the maternal Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale-Japanese version (MIBS-J), administered to mothers approximately 2 weeks to 1 month postpartum during postnatal health checkups in Okaya, Japan, were analyzed alongside Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) data collected from their sixth-grade children and their caregivers. The study included 245 mother-child pairs of children born between April 2, 2009, and April 1, 2012.
resultsPostpartum maternal depressive symptoms, as assessed by the EPDS, were significantly associated with mother-to-infant bonding difficulties, as assessed by the MIBS-J. Structural equation modeling revealed that EPDS, MIBS-J, and sex significantly predicted psychosocial difficulties of children. Bonding difficulties mediated 34.6% of the total effect of EPDS on child difficulties. The models explained 26.1% of the variance in psychosocial difficulties, with 43.0% of the variance explained for parent-rated SDQ scores and 36.4% for self-rated SDQ scores.
conclusionsThe negative impact of maternal depressive symptoms on mother-to-infant bonding may have contributed to increased difficulties for the child, highlighting the critical role of bonding in moderating the effects of maternal mental health on child development. These findings underscore the importance of early postpartum interventions targeting both maternal depression and bonding difficulties to mitigate long-term effects on child development.
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