Morbidade mental materna e desenvolvimento de síndromes psiquiátricas na primeira infância

Abstract

Introduction: Maternal depression translates into prolonged sadness and a sense of hopelessness, and is associated with less engaged and stimulating parental practices and social and cognitive problems in young children from the first months of life and throughout the preschool years. Objectives: 1. To identify the prevalence of psychiatric syndromes in early infancy in a sample of children from a non-governmental organization; 2. To verify the association between maternal mental morbidity and mental health problems in early childhood. Methods: The study was carried out with a representative sample of mothers whose children are followed at the Institute of Early Childhood (IPREDE) and were aged between one year and six months and five years. Two groups were evaluated: children of mothers with depressive symptoms and children of mothers without depressive symptoms. Trainees applied, for the mothers, the Term of Free and Informed Consent, sociodemographic form, the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20), used to assess the presence of mood swings and depressive thoughts in the interviewed mothers, and the Child BehaviorChecklist for ages 1½-5, to assess the presence of signs of psychiatric morbidity in their children. Main results: Of the 257 mothers interviewed, 95 (37%) had SRQ positive (overall score). Of these, 53 (55.8%) had children with clinical CBCL and 42 (44.2%) had children with normal CBCL in the general classification (p <0.001). Of the 257 mothers interviewed, 162 (63%) had negative SRQ. Of these, 47 (29%) had children with clinical CBCL and 115 (71%) had children with normal CBCL in the general classification (p <0.001). Therefore, mothers with positive SRQ are 3.08 times more likely to have children with clinical CBCL for the overall rating compared to mothers with negative SRQ (PR = 3.08 / 95% CI = 1.82 to 5.23). Conclusion: Maternal depressive symptoms have a negative impact on the mental health of infants.