UCI’s Dr. Tallie
Z. Baram and colleagues discovered that erratic maternal care
of infants can
increase the likelihood of risky behaviors, drug seeking and
depression in
adolescence and adult life. Steve Zylius / UC Irvine Communication
(January 5, 2016) UCI
study shows maternal infant-rearing link to adolescent depression
Mothers, put down your smartphones when caring for your
babies! That’s the message from University of California, Irvine researchers,
who have found that fragmented and chaotic maternal care can disrupt proper
brain development, which can lead to emotional disorders later in life.
While the study was conducted with rodents, its findings
imply that when mothers are nurturing their infants, numerous everyday
interruptions – even those as seemingly harmless as phone calls and text
messages – can have a long-lasting impact.
Dr. Tallie Z. Baram and her colleagues at UCI’s Conte Center
on Brain Programming in Adolescent Vulnerabilities show that consistent rhythms
and patterns of maternal care seem to be crucially important for the developing
brain, which needs predictable and continuous stimuli to ensure the growth of
robust neuron networks. Study results appear today in Translational Psychiatry.
The UCI researchers discovered that erratic maternal care of
infants can increase the likelihood of risky behaviors, drug seeking and
depression in adolescence and adult life. Because cellphones have become so
ubiquitous and users have become so accustomed to frequently checking and
utilizing them, the findings of this study are highly relevant to today’s
mothers and babies … and tomorrow’s adolescents and adults.
“It is known that vulnerability to emotional disorders, such
as depression, derives from interactions between our genes and the environment,
especially during sensitive developmental periods,” said Baram, the Danette
“Dee Dee” Shepard Chair in Neurological Studies.