-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Maternal stress during pregnancy has been repeatedly associated with problematic child development. According to the fetal programming hypothesis adverse experiences during pregnancy increase maternal cortisol, which is then assumed to exert a negative effect on fetal development. Recent studies in non-pregnant women report significant associations between positive emotionality and low cortisol levels. We tested in a sample of 60 pregnant women whether both negative and positive life events independently predicted third-trimester baseline awakening cortisol levels. While the effect of negative life events proved unrelated positive life events significantly predicted lower cortisol levels. These findings suggest that positive experiences are of relevance regarding maternal morning cortisol levels in pregnancy reflecting a resource with potentially beneficial effects for the mother and the developing fetus. It might be promising for psychological intervention programs to focus on increasing positive experiences of the expecting mother rather than exclusively trying to reduce maternal stress during pregnancy.
Psychoneuroendocrinology 02/2012; 37(8):1336-40. · 5.81 Impact Factor
-
Mechthild Papousek
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The present essay summarizes experimental, video-microanalytic and clinical aspects of the Papouseks' approach to early preverbal communication. The first section summarizes some of their video-microanalytic research on intuitive parenting and preverbal parent-infant communication. It describes the naturalistic preverbal learning context where infants learn and integrate experiences about themselves, the parent, their interrelatedness, and interactions with objects and events in the environment. The second section recapitulates research involving various kinds of experimental manipulations of the parents' communicative behavior and its effects on infant responses. The final section draws a bow to individual differences and what can be learned from the application of the still-face paradigm in clinical assessments of dysfunctional parent-infant communication.
Infant behavior & development 06/2007; 30(2):258-66. · 1.34 Impact Factor
-
Mechthild Papousek
Kinderkrankenschwester: Organ der Sektion Kinderkrankenpflege / Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Sozialpadiatrie und Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Kinderheilkunde 03/2007; 26(3):116-21.
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: To assess duration of excessive crying and its relation to sleep and eating disturbances in a population sample of infants.
Cross-sectional study.
Random digit-dialing survey, enrolling birth cohorts between 1999 and 2003, in Germany.
Children aged 4 years and younger.
Excessive crying, retrospectively ascertained according to modified Wessel's criteria, and duration of excessive crying.
Severe eating or sleeping problems at interview.
The participation rate in the random digit-dialing survey was 62%. The analysis was confined to 1865 children with complete data. The observed prevalence for excessive crying ever was 16.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 14.7-18.1), beyond 3 months 5.8% (95% CI, 4.8-6.9), and beyond 6 months 2.5% (95% CI, 1.9-3.3). Excessive crying only in the first 3 months did not increase the prevalence of sleep or eating disturbances whereas crying beyond 6 months did; prevalence of eating disorders was 19.1% (95% CI, 9.1-33.3) and prevalence of sleeping disorders was 12.8% (95% CI, 4.8-25.7) compared with 2.7% (95% CI, 1.9-3.6) and 3.6% (95% CI, 2.7-4.6), respectively, in children without excessive crying.
Persistence of crying beyond the first 6 months heralded a higher prevalence of eating or sleeping difficulties in children with excessive crying than in children without excessive crying. These parents should be offered support and counseling over a broader spectrum of features related to multiple regulatory problems.
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 06/2006; 160(5):508-11. · 4.14 Impact Factor
-
Harald Wurmser,
Margarete Rieger,
Caroline Domogalla,
Anja Kahnt,
Janine Buchwald,
Marianne Kowatsch,
Natascha Kuehnert,
Angelika Buske-Kirschbaum, Mechthild Papousek,
Karl-Martin Pirke,
Hubertus von Voss
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: To examine prospectively the relationship between prenatal life stress and infant crying/fussing during the first 6 months of postnatal life, taking into account an array of confounders suggested in the literature.
Prospective longitudinal study of a convenient sample, with data points in pregnancy and at about 6 weeks, 3, and 6 months postpartum.
The study included 86 pregnant women who completed a standardized, validated and widely used questionnaire on negative life changes experienced in the preceding 12 months. Women were grouped by median split on the impact score of negative life changes. Demographic, obstetric and lifestyle variables were obtained from pre- and postnatal interviews and from medical records in order to be taken into account as possible confounders. At all three postnatal data points, mothers kept a validated 5-day 24-h behavior diary to assess durations of infant crying/fussing.
Infants of mothers with high scores of negative life changes exhibited more crying/fussing than infants born to mothers with low negative change scores, throughout the first half year postpartum, but particularly at ages 3 and 6 months. These results do not seem to be spurious due to the confounders considered in this report or to recording bias.
Prenatal life stress is associated with infant crying/fussing in the first half year after delivery. To prevent or reduce infant crying and to foster a well-adapted parent-infant relationship, professionals attending expectant mothers should consider their emotional condition. If required, support should be provided already in pregnancy.
Early Human Development 06/2006; 82(5):341-9. · 2.05 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The author introduces both the concept and practice of Integrative Parent-Infant Psychotherapy (IPI-P), a treatment specifically designed for the most frequent developmental problems and psychological needs of infants and their parents. Based on growing knowledge from interdisciplinary infancy research, both basic and clinical, IPI-P has been developed and practised in the "Munich Interdisciplinary Research and Intervention Program" for early regulatory and relationship disorders since the early nineties. Preverbal parent-infant communication represents both the port of entry into the system and the main focus of diagnostics, developmental counselling, interaction guidance, or psychodynamic psychotherapy of distorted communication and distressed/disordered relationships. The method of videomicroanalysis during video-feedback with the parent has proven particularly efficient--while observing, reliving and working through brief episodes of recorded parent-infant interaction. The author illustrates the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures with excerpts from psychotherapy of a toddler with an age-specific regulatory disorder in the context of severely distressed primary relationships.
Praxis der Kinderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie 02/2006; 55(4):235-54. · 0.58 Impact Factor
-
Mechthild Papousek
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Early childhood regulatory disorders account for the most common behavioral abnormalities of the infant and young child that result from regulatory problems associated with age-specific adaptational and developmental tasks. Increasing empirical evidence indicates that these problems need to receive full attention. If left to themselves, such disorders impair the early parent-child relationship, and increase the risk for disturbances later on in life. In most cases, the family doctor is the first person to be consulted by the infant's parents who are unable to cope with excessive crying, sleeping or feeding disorders. A range of proven methods are available to support counseling on child development in the physician's office.
MMW Fortschritte der Medizin 04/2005; 147(12):32-4, 36, 38.
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Prenatal maternal stress has been shown to impair birth outcome and behavioral functioning in nonhuman primate offspring. Little is known about the effects of prenatal stress on behavioral development in humans. We assessed the effect of self-reported prenatal stress on behavioral characteristics of 81 newborns using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS). We suspected that high levels of perceived chronic stress during pregnancy may negatively affect the brain development of the fetus, reflected in poorer behavioral maturity and higher irritability. We found a poorer performance of newborns from high stressed mothers in the NBAS.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 01/2005; 1032:228-30. · 3.15 Impact Factor
-
Mechthild Papousek
Kinderkrankenschwester: Organ der Sektion Kinderkrankenpflege / Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Sozialpadiatrie und Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Kinderheilkunde 03/2003; 22(2):72-6.
