Parents who are depressed or stressed are less sensitive to the needs of their infants, the latest findings from the Growing Up In Ireland study have shown.

This ongoing study began in 2006 and involves 11,000 children who were recruited at the age of nine months, and 8,500 children who were recruited at the age of nine years.

This latest report based on findings from the study focuses on parenting and infant development. Specifically, it looks at infant development at the age of nine months and the influence of parenting within the family.

The findings show that depression is ‘negatively associated with sensitivity for mothers and for fathers'. In other words, parents are less sensitive to their children's need if they are depressed.

"Similarly, for both mothers and fathers, high levels of parental stress were associated with lower sensitivity. It may be that stress depletes parents' physical, emotional and psychological resources, and renders it more difficult for them to engage with their infants in a sensitive and responsive manner," the report stated.

It also found that parents were less sensitive if they had ‘more temperamentally difficult children'.

"It may be that children who have difficult temperaments (i.e. are fussy and irritable) may evoke fewer positive interactions from their parents, but it is likely that this is a cyclical process wherein lower levels of parental sensitivity may also give rise to higher levels of infant irritability," the report said.

It also looked at how parental sensitivity and infant characteristics, such as birth weight, are related to an infant's development. The study found that one of the main predictors of infant development outcomes was gestational age. Being born prematurely was related to a lower development score overall.

Low birth weight was also linked with delayed infant development.

However, parents' sensitivity also played a key role. Those who were more sensitive to their infants' needs tended to have babies with higher development scores.

"It may be that infants who experience sensitive caregiving feel more confident in exploring their environment, which might confer benefits in terms of their cognitive, language and social development, or that parents who are more sensitive also provide their infant with more stimulation and learning opportunities," the report noted.

Meanwhile, it also looked specifically at the area of parental stress and found, not surprisingly, parents who were depressed reported higher levels of stress.

Stress levels were lower among those who felt they had support, whether this was emotional support or practical assistance.

The report noted that stress among mothers was strongly linked to having an infant with a difficult temperament. This link was not as strong in fathers.

"It may be the case that infants with difficult temperaments demand more tolerance and patience from parents and are more stressful to deal with. It may also be that parents who are stressed may perceive their children to be more difficult to deal with," the report said.

"These findings show that even from a very young age, the sensitivity that parents show when interacting with their babies is important for their development.

"The findings also show that parenting does not happen in a vacuum. Both mothers' and fathers' parenting behaviours can be negatively affected by stress and depression, but babies can be protected from these potentially negative influences if sensitive parent-child interactions can be maintained," commented one of the report's authors, Dr Elizabeth Nixon, of Trinity College Dublin.

For more information on depression, see our Depression Clinic here