Role of Clinical Diagnosis and Medication Use in Effects of Maternal Depression on Infant-Directed Speech

Infant-directed (ID) speech was recorded from mothers as they interacted with their 4- to 12-month-old infants. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that two variables, age of the mother and mother's diagnosed depression, independently accounted for significant proportions of the variance in the extent of change in fundamental frequency (DF0). Specifically, depressed mothers produced ID speech with smaller DF0 than did nondepressed mothers, and older mothers produced ID speech with larger DF0 than did younger mothers. Mothers who were taking antidepressant medication and who were diagnosed as being in at least partial remission produced ID speech with mean DF0 values that were comparable to those of nondepressed mothers. These results demonstrate explicit associations between major depressive disorder and an acoustic attribute of ID speech that is highly salient to young infants.