Within-couple comparison of maternal and paternal distress in an Italian birth cohort.

Objective: This study compared parental distress in 166 couples, using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF), in the Italian NASCITA cohort at the two-year well-child visits. The study explored the concordance of distress levels within couples (aim 1) and their correlation with child-related stressors (aim 2).

Background: Previous studies focused on maternal distress or considered maternal and paternal experiences separately, without addressing differences within couples.

Neuropsychological performance in women at risk of postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

Purpose: While neuropsychological deficits are commonly observed in affective and psychotic disorders, this remains unexplored in these disorders when they occur during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

Methods: A neuropsychological test battery was administered to women defined at risk of postpartum depression (PD, N = 53) because having either a current or past diagnosis of major depressive disorder, women at risk of postpartum psychosis (PP, N = 43) because of a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder and/or a previous episode of PP and women not at risk (NR, N = 48) in the third trimester of pregnancy. Generalized and specific cognitive abilities were compared between groups.

Children's nocturnal awakenings and sleep duration during the first two years of life in the NASCITA cohort study.

Purpose: Previous studies have analyzed the characteristics and prevalence of sleep disturbances among Italian children. Less attention has been paid, however, to the factors involved in sleep disturbances in the first two years of life. The goals of the present study were, therefore: 1) to provide a developmental trajectory of Italian infants' night awakenings and duration during the first two years of life and 2) to analyze which factors affect night awakenings the most over time.

Pediatrician and parental evaluation of child neurodevelopment at 2 years of age.

Background: The early identification of infants with a risk for neurodevelopmental disorders in the first few years of life is essential for better developmental outcomes. Screenings should be carried out by combining the family pediatricians' and parents' perspectives, the two fundamental sources of information on children's health. The present study has three aims: (a) to test the feasibility of parent-report instruments to detect warning signs in their children's development; (b) to ascertain whether there is an agreement between the family pediatricians' (FP) clinical judgments of warning signs and the parental perceptions; (c) to determine whether there is a link between parents' distress and child development.