Abstract
We describe the association between postpartum depression and the quantity and content of infant media use. Households with depressed mothers viewed twice as much television as households with non-depressed mothers did, and depressed mothers appeared to derive comparatively greater pleasure from television viewing. Maternal depression was associated with an increased exposure to child-directed content by 6–9-month-old infants, although it was not associated with an increased exposure to adult-directed programming. Depressed mothers also reported being less likely to sit and talk with their children during television use or to consult outside sources of information about media. This increase in television exposure without corresponding parental involvement could negatively affect developmental outcomes.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the research participants. Research supported by our study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health RO1 MH066318 to Susan McDonough, by Georgetown University Graduate School and a summer fellowship from the Georgetown University Research Opportunity Program to Anna Bank. We thank Katherine Salerno and Lauren Shuck for their assistance in data collection.
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Bank, A.M., Barr, R., Calvert, S.L. et al. Maternal Depression and Family Media Use: A Questionnaire and Diary Analysis. J Child Fam Stud 21, 208–216 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-011-9464-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-011-9464-1