Ilona Luoma

Bio: Ilona Luoma is an academic researcher from University of Tampere. The author has contributed to research in topics: Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale & Mental health. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 30 publications receiving 1397 citations. Previous affiliations of Ilona Luoma include University of Eastern Finland.

Longitudinal study of maternal depressive symptoms and child well-being.

Abstract: Objective To investigate whether prenatal, postnatal, and/or current maternal depressive symptoms are associated with low level of psychosocial functioning or high level of emotional/behavioral problems in school-age children. Method As part of a prospective longitudinal study, maternal depressive symptoms were screened with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale prenatally, postnatally, and when the children were 8 to 9 years old. The original sample of 349 mothers was collected in 1989–1990 in Tampere, Finland. Of the 270 mother–child pairs at the latest stage of the study in 1997–1998, 188 mother–child pairs participated and 147 were included. The associations between maternal depressive symptoms at different points in time and the level of children's psychosocial functioning and problems reported on the Child Behavior Checklist and Teacher's Report Form were examined. Results Children's low social competence and low adaptive functioning were associated with concurrent maternal depressive symptoms. Maternal postnatal depressive symptoms predicted low social competence. The presence of prenatal depressive symptoms in the mother was a strong predictor of child's high externalizing and total problem levels (odds ratio 3.1, 95% confidence interval 1.1–8.9 and odds ratio 8.5, 95% confidence interval 2.7–26.5). Prenatal as well as recurrent maternal depressive symptoms were associated with the least favorable child outcome. Conclusions Maternal depressive symptomatology at any time, especially prenatally, is a risk factor for the child's well-being. This should be noted already in prenatal care. The timing and the recurrence of maternal depressive symptoms affect the outcome for the child.

Mother's early perception of her infant's difficult temperament, parenting stress and early mother–infant interaction

Abstract: The current study investigated factors contributing to mother's early perception of her infant's difficult temperament. One hundred and twenty-four motherinfant dyads participated in the study. Mother's perception of the infant's temperament was assessed with the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ). The influence of motherinfant interaction, mother's mental health and parenting stress were investigated. Motherinfant interaction was videotaped during a face-to-face interaction and analysed using the Global Rating Scale. Mother's mental health was assessed through a structured interview (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, SCID) and parenting stress was examined by a questionnaire (Parenting Stress Index). First, the difficultness scale of the ICQ was used as a continuous variable and factors contributing to mother's perception of her infant's temperament as more or less difficult were examined. Secondly, infants were categorized into difficult and non-difficult, and factors increasing the infant's risk of being perceived as difficult were examined. The model including mother's mental health and parental distress accounted for 24% of the variance in perceived infant difficultness, with parental distress in particular being an influential contributor. When infants categorized as difficult were examined, mother's intrusiveness and infant's poor interactive behaviour in early motherinfant interaction as well as parental distress significantly increased the infant's risk of being perceived as difficult. Motherinfant interaction, Parenting stress, Perception, Temperament.

Predicting internalizing and externalizing problems at five years by child and parental factors in infancy and toddlerhood

Abstract: This study examined child and parental factors in infancy and toddlerhood predicting subclinical or clinical levels of internalizing and externalizing problems at 5 years of age Ninety-six children and their families participated They were assessed when the children were 4–10 weeks old (T1), 2 years (T2) and 5 years old (T3) Child risks (difficult temperament, health problems, early emotional and behavioral problems), parental risks (psychopathology, parenting stress and perception of the child) and family risks (socio-economic status, quality of marital relationship and family violence) were examined At 5 years, internalizing problems were predicted by family violence during the child’s infancy and parenting stress at age 2 Externalizing problems were predicted by psychiatric problems of the mother before pregnancy and child’s externalizing problems at 2 years of age When interventions aiming at preventing emotional and behavioral problems in children are considered, these issues should be recognized early and effective intervention initiated

Infant–mother interaction as a predictor of child's chronic health problems

Abstract: Background Psychological stress is associated with physical illnesses like asthma or infections. For an infant, situations perceived as stressful are highly dependent on the relationship with the caregiver. Constantly poor mother–infant interaction increases the child's vulnerability to stressful conditions and experiences. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of the quality of early mother–infant interaction on the subsequent physical health of the child. Poor mother–infant interaction was hypothesized to be associated with chronic or recurrent health problems in the child. Participants Fifty-seven mother-infant dyads from families at risk of psychosocial problems and 63 from non-risk families, altogether 120 dyads, participated in the study. Families were drawn from normal population, from well-baby clinics in the city of Tampere, Finland. Infants were full-term and healthy, families with severe risks like psychotic illnesses of the parents or a history of child protection concerns were excluded from the study. Methods After the initial interview with the mother, the mother–infant interaction was videotaped when the infants were 8–11 weeks of age and the interaction was assessed using the Global Rating Scale for Mother–Infant Interaction (Murray et al. 1996a). After the 2-year follow-up mothers were interviewed again and the health problems of the child were elicited. Results Poor dyadic mother–infant interaction and infant's poor interactive behaviour assessed at two months were separately associated with the physical health of the child during the two-year follow-up. After adjusting for other factors in the logistic regression analysis infant's poor interactive behaviour remained as a significant predictor of chronic or recurrent health problems in the child. Infant's health problems at the time of the initial interview and day care centre attendance were also significant predictors. Conclusions The results suggest that interactional issues between a mother and her infant are related to the child's subsequent physical health. Children with recurrent or chronic health problems may have relationship difficulties with which they need help. Also, early avoidant behaviour of the infant should be regarded as an indicator of the infant's distress with possibly adverse outcomes in the child's physical health, among other consequences.

Maternal Depression and Child Psychopathology: A Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract: Although the association between maternal depression and adverse child outcomes is well established, the strength of the association, the breadth or specificity of the outcomes, and the role of moderators are not known This information is essential to inform not only models of risk but also the design of preventive interventions by helping to identify subgroups at greater risk than others and to elucidate potential mechanisms as targets of interventions A meta-analysis of 193 studies was conducted to examine the strength of the association between mothers’ depression and children’s behavioral problems or emotional functioning Maternal depression was significantly related to higher levels of internalizing, externalizing, and general psychopathology and negative affect/behavior and to lower levels of positive affect/behavior, with all associations small in magnitude These associations were significantly moderated by theoretically and methodologically relevant variables, with patterns of moderation found to vary somewhat with each child outcome Results are interpreted in terms of implications for theoretical models that move beyond main effects models in order to more accurately identify which children of depressed mothers are more or less at risk for specific outcomes

Associations of parenting dimensions and styles with externalizing problems of children and adolescents: An updated meta-analysis.

Abstract: The present meta-analysis integrates research from 1,435 studies on associations of parenting dimensions and styles with externalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Parental warmth, behavioral control, autonomy granting, and an authoritative parenting style showed very small to small negative concurrent and longitudinal associations with externalizing problems. In contrast, harsh control, psychological control, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful parenting were associated with higher levels of externalizing problems. The strongest associations were observed for harsh control and psychological control. Parental warmth, behavioral control, harsh control, psychological control, autonomy granting, authoritative, and permissive parenting predicted change in externalizing problems over time, with associations of externalizing problems with warmth, behavioral control, harsh control, psychological control, and authoritative parenting being bidirectional. Moderating effects of sampling, child's age, form of externalizing problems, rater of parenting and externalizing problems, quality of measures, and publication status were identified. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record