Jennifer McCabe University of Iowa

1. The Impact of Depression and Anxiety on Maternal Perceptions: Application of a Hierarchical Model Jennifer McCabe University of Iowa

2. Previous Research • Narrowly focused on maternal depression • Mothers with depression experience higher levels of parenting stress. • Pervasiveness of parenting stress associated with postpartum depression. • Mothers experiencing parenthood as stressful are likely to exhibit personalities consistent with the trait of Neuroticism. • Perceptions of self and perceptions of child as sources of parenting stress. • BUT, this research excluded other forms of maternal psychopathology • Such as other mood disorders & anxiety disorders

3. What about anxiety? • Comorbidity of anxiety and depression • High prevalence of postpartum anxiety • Hierarchical structure of mood and anxiety

4. Hierarchical Structure of Mood and Anxiety • Higher order factor has been identified • Characterized by high levels of distress and negative affectivity • Explains issue of comorbidity • Support for this notion in the literature • Categorizing symptoms: • Chronic, pervasive distress • Limited, situational specific distress • Implications for research in maternal psychopathology • Similarities and differences between high distress and situational distress

5. Summary • Literature suggests the importance of examining maternal anxiety • Structure indicates maternal psychopathology should be studied more broadly • Consider the level of distress associated with symptoms

6. Objectives • Examine the impact of mood and anxiety symptoms on maternal perceptions of parenting stress. • Examine symptoms based on level of distress • Indirectly examine the extent to which hierarchical models of mood and anxiety apply to maternal parenting experiences.

7. Hypotheses • Symptoms of generalized and social anxiety will individually predict maternal perceptions. • Symptoms of generalized and social anxiety will predict maternal perceptions independent of depressive symptoms. • Only generalized anxiety and depressive symptoms will predict a parenting stress experience related to child characteristics.

8. Method Procedure • Follow up of a dissertation on emotional experiences of women during pregnancy. • Three different sites across Eastern Iowa • In person, media ads, letters at OBGYN appointments • Subject pool: 300? mothers • Mothers contacted by mail when index child is 16-months old. • Description of follow-up study and procedures, consent forms, and self-report questionnaire packet. • After returning materials a phone interview is scheduled.

9. Method Participants • Currently, ___ mothers have been contacted • _____have agreed to participate • Recruit until October 2010 • Estimated final sample size:

10. Method Measures • Parenting Stress Index – Short Form (PSI-SF) • Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ) • Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms – II (IDAS-II) • Inventory of Mood and Anxiety Symptoms (IMAS)

11. Analyses • Create composite scores in order to form reliable and valid measures of underlying, theoretical constructs. • Mood and anxiety composites • Depression • Generalized anxiety • Social anxiety • Difficult child composite • Present zero-order correlations • Hierarchical regression to test hypotheses

12. Goals • Short term • Presentation of interim data February 5th • Less advanced analyses based on familiar techniques • Long term • Apply advanced statistical techniques to the data • Composite indicators based on factor analysis • Alternative analyses that may be more appropriate for my project than what is available in my “statistical arsenal.”