Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Maternal Mind-Mindedness: Moderating Role of Depressive Symptoms

This study investigated the impact of maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on maternal Mind-mindedness (MM), and whether postnatal depressive symptoms moderated this association. Ninety-six women participated; mothers’ mean age was 32.6 years (SD = 5.85), most were married (86.5%), and 65.6% self-identified as White. Among the infants, 62% were boys, and their mean age was 6.4 months (SD = 0.40). General Linear Models were built having maternal MM (appropriate and non-attuned comments) as outcome, ACEs as predictors, depression score as a moderator, and maternal education as a covariate. Results indicated that a higher number of ACEs, in the presence of lower depressive symptoms, led to a reduction in the proportion of appropriate comments (β = 0.284; p = 0.22). Conversely, a higher subjective evaluation of the most traumatic experience predicted a higher proportion of appropriate comments (β = 3.008; p < .001). A higher number of ACEs in interaction with higher depressive symptoms led to an increase in non-attuned comments (β = 0.065; p = 0.024). In conclusion, at lower levels of depressive symptoms, a higher number of ACEs negatively impacted appropriate comments, whereas at higher levels, ACEs increased the frequency of non-attuned comments.