Abstract
A community sample of 82 new mothers' objective and subjective perceptions of their infants were assessed, using a specially designed questionnaire. Sixteen women had postnatal depression (PND), and thirteen women had developed PND but recovered by assessment. These women had a less positive view of their infants than women who had never had PND. However, the objective/subjective dichotomy, while meaningful to observers, did not structure their responses. The questionnaire items seemed to reflect new mothers' judgements of their infants, not their observations of them, even in apparently objective phenomena or physical symptoms. Maternal and infant well-being are not separable in questionnaires of maternal perceptions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Stein A, Gath DH, Bucher J, Bond A, Day A, Cooper PJ. The relationship between postnatal depression and mother-child interaction. Brit J Psychiat 1991;158:46-52.
Murray L. The impact of postnatal depression on infant development. J Child Psychol Psychiat 1992;33:543-61.
Bates JE, Freeland CA, Lounsbury ML. Measurement of infant difficultness. Child Developmt 1979;50:794-803.
Carey W. A simplified method for measuring infant temperament. J Pediat 1970; 77:188-93.
Hubert NC, Wachs TD, Peters-Martin P, Gandour MJ. The study of early temperament: Measurement and conceptual issues. Child Developmt 1982;53:571-600.
Bates JE. The concept of difficult temperament. Merrill-Palmer Q 1980;26:299-319.
Thomas A, Chess S, Korn SJ. The reality of difficult temperament. Merrill-Palmer Q 1982;28:1-20.
Prior M. Childhood Temperament. J Child Psychol Psychiat 1992;33:249-80.
Diener ML, Goldstein LH, Mangelsdorf SC. The role of prenatal expectations on parents' reports of infant temperament. Merrill-Palmer Q 1995;41:172-90.
Zeanah CH, Keener MA, Stewart L, Anders TF. Prenatal perception of infant personality: A preliminary investigation. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiat 1985;24: 204-10.
Bates JE, Bayles K. Objective and subjective components in mothers perceptions ofo their children from age 6 months to 3 years. Merrill-Palmer Q 1984;30:111-30.
Mebert CJ. Dimensions of subjectivity in parents' ratings of infant temperament. Child Developmt 1991;62:352-61.
Foreman DM. Beyond the Edinburgh Postnatal Rating Scale: other rating scales and standardised interviews of use in assessing disturbed parents and their children. Perinatal Psychiatry: use and misuse of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale 1994;199-215.
Goldsmith HH, Campos JJ. Towards a theory of infant temperament. In: The Development of Attachment and Affiliative Systems, eds. Emde R, Harmon R. New York: Plenum Press, 1982, pp. 161-193.
Field T. Infants of depressed mothers. Infant Beh Developmt 1995;18:1-13.
Plomin R. The difficult concept of temperament: A response to Thomas, Chess, and Korn. Merrill-Palmer Q 1982;28:25-33.
Kumar R. “Anybody's Child.” Severe disorders of mother-to-infant bonding. Brit J Psychiat 1997;171:175-81.
Margison FR. The pathology of the mother-child relationship. Motherhood and Mental Illness 1982;191-222.
Henshaw C, Foreman DM, O'Brien S, Cox J. Are women with severe blues at increased risk of postpartum depression? Eur Psychiat 1996;11:288.
Cox JL, Holden JM, Sagovsky R. Detection of postnatal depression: development of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Brit J Psychiat 1987;150:782-6.
Endicott J, Spitzer RL. A diagnostic interview. The schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiat 1978;35:837-44.
Boath E, Cox JL, Lewis E, Jones P, Pryce A. When the cradle falls: the treatment of postnatal depression in a psychiatric day hospital compared with routine primary care. J Affective Dis 1999;53:143-51.
Gower. Multivariate Analysis: Ordination, Multidimensional Scaling and Allied Topics. Handbook of Applicable Mathematics VI: Statistics 1981;747-51.
Hewitt JK, Rutter M, Simonoff E, Pickles A, Loeber R, Heath AC et al. Genetics and Developmental Psychopathology: 1. Phenotypic assessment in the Virginia twin study of adolescent behavioral development. J Child Psychol Psychiat 1997; 38:943-63.
Hay DF, Pawlby S, Sharp D, Schmucker G, Mills A, Allen H et al. Parents' judgements about young children's problems: Why mothers and fathers might disagree yet still predict later outcomes. J Child Psychol Psychiat 1999;40:1249-58.
Foreman DM. Infant Psychiatry: its scope, coherence and clinical utility. Israel J Psychiat 2000;37:165-77.
Prusoff BA, Merikangas KR, Weissman MM. Lifetime prevalence and age of onset of psychiatric disorders: recall 4 years later. J Psychiat Res 1988;22:107-17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Foreman, D.M., Henshaw, C. Objectivity and Subjectivity in Postnatally Depressed Mothers' Perceptions of Their Infants. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 32, 263–275 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015266410308
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015266410308