Maternal anxiety and depression and their association with mother-child pretend play: a longitudinal observational study

Rao, Z., Barker, B., O'Farrelly, C., et al. Maternal anxiety and depression and their association with mother-child pretend play: a longitudinal observational study. BMC Psychol 9, 70 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00568-9

Commentary

Anxiety and depression in parents are associated with parent-child interaction.

And while play with children is important for parent-child interaction and provides developmental opportunities, the association of parental anxiety and depression with play is unclear. This study was investigating whether maternal anxiety and depression levels predicted the frequency of pretend play in both mothers and children, respectively, and whether maternal involvement in pretend play predicted problematic behavior in children two years later.

The study assessed pretend play in 60 pairs of mother-infant dyads (M child age = 29.67 months, SD = 3.25 , 41.7 percent girls) during home visits, and maternal anxiety and depression were assessed using a self-report questionnaire. The child's behavioral problems were then assessed by the mother at baseline and two years later.

The results predicted higher maternal anxiety and less pretend play. It was also predicted that the higher the maternal depression, the less pretend play the child would engage in. There was evidence that at baseline, the more mothers who engaged in pretend play, the fewer behavioral problems their children were predicted to have two years later. These results suggest that maternal anxiety and depression are associated with less pretend play and may help reduce the risk of problematic behavior in children.