Factors associated with the anxiety score of deaf and hearing mothers.
Raquel Fabiane Nogueira, Saul Martins Paiva, Larissa Carcavalli and 4 others
PMID 39109753WHAT IT FOUND
Deaf mothers had higher anxiety than hearing mothers.
Children's thumb sucking was linked to higher maternal anxiety, and daycare in the first year was linked to lower anxiety. The study did not show cause.
Key findings
01Deaf mothers had an anxiety score 1.551 times higher than hearing mothers.
02Mothers whose children began daycare between 7 and 12 months had 39% lower anxiety scores than mothers whose children did not attend daycare.
03Mothers whose children sucked their thumbs had an anxiety score 1.781 times higher than mothers whose children did not have the habit.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that deafness, thumb sucking, or daycare entry caused anxiety. It used a convenience sample of 116 mothers, including only 29 deaf mothers, so the groups may not represent all deaf or hearing mothers. Mothers were asked about events such as breastfeeding after their children were already two to five years old, so memory bias could affect the reported details. The deaf group had to have severe or profound hearing loss and use Brazilian Sign Language, and syndromic mothers or children were excluded, so results may not apply to all deaf mothers. Anxiety was measured by mothers rating themselves, not by a clinical interview, and the study did not show whether child habits led to higher anxiety or higher anxiety led to child habits.
Declared interests
The study reports financial support from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, process # 301973/2022-9. No other conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these findings as proof that deafness, thumb sucking, or daycare causes anxiety. The study only found associations, and it cannot show cause and effect.