Intimate partner violence across pregnancy and the postpartum and the relationship to depression and perinatal wellbeing: findings from a pregnancy cohort study.

Purpose: To compare the prevalence of emotional and physical intimate partner violence (IPV) across pregnancy and the first year postpartum in those with and without clinical depression and assess the association between maternal childhood trauma, current stressful life events and depression and IPV over the perinatal period.

Methods: Data were obtained from 505 pregnant women from the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS), a cohort study with data collected across pregnancy until 12 months postpartum. Maternal antenatal depression was measured using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-IV) with repeat measurement of perinatal depressive symptoms using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS).

Stressful life events and depression in late pregnancy: Comparison between rural and metropolitan women using data from an Australian cohort study.

Objective: To identify whether a diagnosis of depression combined with rurality, compared with either depression or living in metropolitan areas alone, is associated with experiencing more stressful life events in pregnancy.

Design: This study uses data from 402 pregnant women (206 metropolitan and 196 rural), enrolled in the Western Australian arm of the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study. Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study is a prospective, longitudinal cohort with women recruited during early pregnancy (<20 weeks) across 3 groups: those with diagnosed depression, those taking antidepressant medication and control.

Major depression as a predictor of the intergenerational transmission of attachment security: Findings from a pregnancy cohort study.

Objective: Understanding the relationship between attachment and mental health has an important role in informing management of perinatal mental disorders and for infant mental health. It has been suggested that experiences of attachment are transmitted from one generation to the next. Maternal sensitivity has been proposed as a mediator, although findings have not been as strong as hypothesised.

A psychometric study of the Emotional Availability Scales: Construct validity and measurement invariance between depressed and nondepressed mother-infant dyads.

The Emotional Availability Scales (EAS) are the most widely reported observational assessment measure of parent-child relationships and has been of particular interest in understanding differences between samples of depressed and nondepressed mothers and their offspring. Despite its widespread use, psychometric validation of the factor structure in normative samples and the measurement of invariance within clinical samples has not been published. We evaluated the internal structure (dimensionality, reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity) of the EAS fourth edition using a nondepressed sample of 157 Australian women and their infants aged 6 months, including testing the measurement invariance of the EAS between the same nondepressed sample (n = 157), and a depressed group (n = 185) of mother-infant dyads, using MPlus.

Maternal social support, depression and emotional availability in early mother-infant interaction: Findings from a pregnancy cohort.

Background: Social support theory suggests that parental social support may influence the nature of early parenting behaviours and specifically the mother-infant relationship. This study examines whether support from a partner, friends or family is associated with differences in quality of mother-infant interactions in the context of maternal depression.

Methods: 210 women were followed from early pregnancy to six months postpartum within Australian pregnancy cohort, the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS).

Maternal psychosocial predictors of pacifier use in a mother-infant interaction task: An observational study from the MPEWS pregnancy cohort.

The prevalence of pacifier use is high but when it occurs outside of the recommended sleep context, it becomes more controversial. Using 211 mother-infant dyads recorded as part of the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study, we examined the maternal psychosocial predictors of pacifier use within an interaction task (i.e.

Maternal perinatal depression, circulating oxytocin levels and childhood emotional disorders at 4 years of age: The importance of psychosocial context.

Oxytocin has been a hormone of interest in understanding both depression and parenting. Here, the role of oxytocin has been explored in understanding the interaction between perinatal depression, history of trauma and subsequent longer-term child socio-emotional outcomes. Data were obtained from 203 pregnant women from the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS), a pregnancy cohort study with data collected across pregnancy, postpartum and until 4 years for mother and child.

Maternal trauma and emotional availability in early mother-infant interaction: findings from the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Well-being Study (MPEWS) cohort.

Understanding how a mother's traumatic experiences influence her interactions with her infant may have importance for understanding infant development and mental health. Data for this study were drawn from an Australian pregnancy cohort, the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study. Maternal trauma from Childhood, Childbirth Experiences, and Stressful Life Events were examined.

Maternal depression and the emotional availability of mothers at six months postpartum: Findings from the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS) pregnancy cohort.

Background: Existing research suggests maternal depression may reduce the quality of early mother-infant interaction and this might increase our understanding of how maternal mental health impacts on child development outcomes. However, most studies recruit from community samples and few include both a diagnostic measure of maternal depression together with an observational measure of the quality of the mother-infant relationship.

Methods: Data was drawn from 210 women recruited in early pregnancy until 6 months postpartum within an Australian pregnancy cohort, the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study.

Refugee children's play: Before and after migration to Australia.

Aim: Play is vital to children's development, health and resilience. Play modulates cognitive, emotional and social well-being. Children constitute approximately half of all humanitarian refugee entrants resettled in Australia.