Infant, Maternal, and Neighborhood Predictors of Maternal Psychological Distress at Birth and Over Very Low Birth Weight Infants' First Year of Life.
Michelle M Greene, Michael Schoeny, Beverly Rossman and 3 others
PMID 31356412WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers of very low birth weight infants had elevated distress at birth, but depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms declined significantly over the first year.
Older mothers and those with lower income or living in poorer neighborhoods reported less distress initially.
Key findings
01Maternal depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms were elevated at birth but declined significantly over the infants' first year.
02Older maternal age predicted lower initial depression, while lower income and higher infant birth weight predicted lower initial anxiety.
03Living in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates was associated with lower initial post-traumatic stress symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study was conducted at a single site, which may limit generalizability. Attrition occurred over time, with 64% of mothers completing the final assessment, though analyses showed no link between distress levels and dropping out. Distress was measured only by mother self-report, without clinical interviews or corroborating reports from other caregivers. The sample included only mothers of VLBW infants, so findings may not apply to mothers of late preterm infants or those with other NICU experiences. Some counterintuitive findings, such as lower income predicting less anxiety, may reflect response bias or emotional blunting rather than true well-being.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the NIH. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that lower reported distress in low-income or disadvantaged groups indicates better psychological health. The authors suggest this pattern may reflect emotional blunting, chronic stress saturation, or under-reporting, rather than an absence of suffering.