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Maternal Sensitivity: a Resilience Factor against Internalizing Symptoms in Early Adolescents Born Very Preterm?

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Abstract

Compared with full-terms, preterm individuals are more at risk from infancy to adulthood for developing internalizing symptoms. Early maternal interactive behavior, especially maternal sensitivity, has been found to be a resilience factor in the developmental outcome of preterm children. The present longitudinal study aimed at examining whether early interactive parenting behaviors have a long term impact on the internalizing symptoms of preterm-born young adolescents. A total sample of 36 very preterm and 22 full-term children participated in an 11-year follow-up study. Maternal interactive behavior was assessed during a mother–infant interaction when the infant was 18 months old. At 11 years, internalizing symptoms were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the interaction between groups (preterm/full-term) and maternal sensitivity at 18 months significantly explained CBCL internalizing symptoms at 11 years (β = −0.526; p < 0.05). Specifically, although prematurity was related to internalizing problems, preterm children with higher maternal sensitivity did not differ from their full-term-born peers on the CBCL internalizing problems domain. These results suggest that maternal sensitivity is a long-term resilience factor preventing the development of internalizing problems at early adolescence in very preterm individuals.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financed by the Swiss National Sciences Foundation (SNF Grant #32-49712.96 and Grant #325-100-120-334; NCCR Synapsy) as well as by Oak Foundation. The authors would like to thank all participants for their precious collaboration as well as Blaise Pierrehumbert, Margarita Forcada-Guex, Lyne Jaunin, Jennifer Nessi and Maryline Monnier who helped with data collection and coding. Thank also to Antje Horsch, Gregory Mantzouranis and Nevena Dimitrova for their comments and their help in the proof-reading.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinic of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Lausanne, Av. Pierre-Decker 2, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Noémie Faure & Jean-François Tolsa

  2. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Stéphanie Habersaat, Mathilde Morisod Harari, Carole Müller-Nix, Ayala Borghini & Sébastien Urben

  3. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland

    François Ansermet

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  1. Noémie Faure
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  2. Stéphanie Habersaat
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  3. Mathilde Morisod Harari
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  4. Carole Müller-Nix
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  5. Ayala Borghini
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  6. François Ansermet
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  7. Jean-François Tolsa
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  8. Sébastien Urben
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Correspondence to Noémie Faure.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article and no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Human and Animal Rights

All procedures performed in the present study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all mothers included in the study.

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Key points

- Adolescents born preterm are more at risk for internalizing problems, especially anxiety and depression, compared with their full-term born counterparts.

- Maternal sensitivity has been shown to be a resilience factor for the development of preterm children until school-age.

- Maternal sensitivity is crucial for preterm development until adolescence.

- This is the first longitudinal study that underlines the moderating effect of early maternal sensitivity on psychopathological symptoms in early adolescence.

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Faure, N., Habersaat, S., Harari, M.M. et al. Maternal Sensitivity: a Resilience Factor against Internalizing Symptoms in Early Adolescents Born Very Preterm?. J Abnorm Child Psychol 45, 671–680 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-016-0194-0

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