Association between maternal depression and maternal sensitivity from birth to 12 months: a meta-analysis

Maternal sensitivity plays a central role in shaping children's development across a number of domains, and may be disrupted by depression. The current meta-analysis quantified the magnitude of the association between depression and maternal sensitivity, defined broadly as timely, contingent, and appropriate responding to infants' cues, from birth to 12months. Across k=48 studies and n=4,934 mother-infant dyads, the aggregate effect size between depression and maternal sensitivity was r=-.16, p<.0001, indicating that mothers with higher depression levels were less sensitive than mothers with lower depression levels. Studies that compared a depressed group with a nondepressed/control group had larger effect sizes (r=-.35, p<.0001) than studies that examined depression within a single sample of either unselected cases or clinical-only cases (r=-.11, p<.001), suggesting that clinical levels of depression may pose a particular threat to sensitive parenting. Clinical implications (e.g. screening, prevention) are discussed.