Modelling the associations between parental depressive symptoms, hypomanic traits, and infant socio-emotional development: The mediating role of parental reflective functioning.

Abstract

Background: Although understanding of maternal hypomania in the postpartum period is gradually improving, the intergenerational pathways of risk associated with hypomania in the context of postpartum depression remain unknown. It is also unclear whether distinct or shared pathways of risk exist for infants exposed to different parental mood characteristics and whether these pathways are mediated by parental reflective functioning.

Methods: An online survey was administered to 1788 parents (89 % mothers, 50 % White) who were primary caregivers of a child under 2. Structural equation modelling techniques were employed to model direct and indirect associations between parental depressive symptoms, hypomanic traits and infant socio-emotional development, investigating the mediating role of parental reflective functioning.

Results: Elevated levels of parental depressive symptoms, in the presence of hypomanic personality traits, were directly associated with infant socio-emotional challenges, without affecting parental reflective functioning. However, higher levels of parental hypomanic traits in the postnatal period displayed a fully mediated pathway of risk transmission to infants' socio-emotional development via their negative association with parental reflective functioning.

Limitations: Results should be interpreted with caution as the reliance on self-and-parent-reported scales may have introduced biases influenced by individual perceptions and situational factors. Additionally, the cross-sectional design of this study inhibits establishing cause-and-effect relationships.

Conclusions: Overall, these results highlight the critical role of both parental depressive symptoms and hypomanic traits on infant socio-emotional development, suggesting that supporting parental mood regulation and mentalizing abilities in the postnatal period could reduce the risk of early maladaptive socio-emotional trajectories in children.