@article{SchmidBlomeyerBuchmannetal.2011,
  author    = {Schmid, Brigitte and Blomeyer, Dorothea and Buchmann, Arlette F. and Trautmann-Villalba, Patricia and Zimmermann, Ulrich S. and Schmidt, Martin H. and Esser, G{\"u}nter and Banaschewski, Tobias and Laucht, Manfred},
  title     = {Quality of early mother-child interaction associated with depressive psychopathology in the offspring - a prospective study from infancy to adulthood},
  series = {Journal of psychiatric research},
  volume    = {45},
  journal   = {Journal of psychiatric research},
  number    = {10},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0022-3956},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.05.010},
  pages     = {1387 -- 1394},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Evidence from animal research has revealed that less maternal care results in disturbed emotionality in the offspring. In the present study, the long-term impact of maternal responsiveness and stimulation during early mother child interaction on depressive psychopathology was examined until adulthood. Data are from an epidemiological cohort study of the long-term outcome of early risk factors assessed at birth. At age 3 months, mothers and infants were videotaped during a nursing and playing situation. Maternal responsiveness and stimulation as well as infant responsiveness were evaluated by trained raters. At age 19 years, 314 participants (145 males, 169 females) were characterized on measures of depression through interview and questionnaire. In addition, measures of depression and anxiety were available from assessments in childhood. Results indicated that less maternal stimulation during early interaction was associated with a higher risk of depression in the offspring until the age of 19 years. In addition, children of less stimulating mothers showed more depressive symptoms at age 19 years and displayed more anxiety and depressive symptoms between the ages of 4.5 and 15 years. In contrast, maternal responsiveness was unrelated to children's outcome. In accordance with findings from animal research, the present study provides first longitudinal evidence in humans of a continuous and long-term influence of early maternal interaction behavior on the offspring's psychological adjustment until adulthood. The results suggest that the amount of maternally initiated contact behavior in a very early developmental stage may be crucial for children's mental health, regardless of child and maternal responsiveness.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchmidBuchmannTrautmannVillalbaetal.2013,
  author    = {Schmid, Brigitte and Buchmann, Arlette F. and Trautmann-Villalba, Patricia and Blomeyer, Dorothea and Zimmermann, Ulrich S. and Schmidt, Martin H. and Esser, G{\"u}nter and Banaschewski, Tobias and Laucht, Manfred},
  title     = {Maternal stimulation in infancy predicts hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity in young men},
  series = {Journal of neural transmission},
  volume    = {120},
  journal   = {Journal of neural transmission},
  number    = {8},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {Wien},
  issn      = {0300-9564},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00702-013-0970-8},
  pages     = {1247 -- 1257},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Evidence from animal research has demonstrated the effect of early maternal care on the offspring's endocrine and behavioral stress response in adulthood. The present prospective study investigates, in humans, the long-term impact of maternal responsiveness and stimulation during early mother-child interaction on adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol response to a psychosocial laboratory stressor in adulthood. The data are from an epidemiological cohort study of the long-term outcome of early risk factors assessed at birth. At age 3 months, mothers and infants were videotaped during a 10-min standardized nursing and playing situation and evaluated by trained raters for maternal stimulation and infant and maternal responsiveness. At age 19 years, 270 participants (146 females, 124 males) completed the Trier Social Stress Test. The results indicated that less maternal stimulation during early interaction at age 3 months predicted diminished plasma ACTH and cortisol increase in response to acute psychosocial stress in male, but not female offspring. In contrast, maternal responsiveness was found to be unrelated to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) reactivity. In accordance with the findings from animal research, the present study provides prospective evidence in humans of a long-term association between early maternal interaction behavior and the offspring's hormonal stress response in young adulthood, suggesting that poor maternal stimulation in early infancy may result in reduced HPA axis reactivity to an acute psychosocial stressor in males.},
  language  = {en}
}