The relationship between the duration of crying, experienced problems with crying by the parents at six and ten weeks after birth and the development of parental stress: The moderating effect of a psycho-educational intervention aimed at preventing parental stress after birth.

Abstract

Previous research has shown that excessive infant crying can lead to the development of parental stress and symptoms of psychopathology, posing a risk to the infant's healthy development. However, other forms of crying have not yet been studied. This study investigated the relationship between the duration of different types of infant crying, i.e., crying, whining and inconsolable crying, at six and ten weeks postpartum, experienced problems with crying by parents and the development of parental stress at ten weeks postpartum. Furthermore, a moderating effect of a psychoeducational intervention is studied. 137 pregnant women and 97 partners participated in the study. At six and ten weeks postpartum, both parental stress and experienced problems with infant crying were measured. At six weeks postpartum, the duration of crying was measured through an infant behaviour diary. Multiple regression analysis showed: (1) a relationship between whining at six weeks postpartum and maternal stress at 10 weeks postpartum; (2) a relationship between experiencing infant crying as more problematic at ten weeks postpartum and parental stress; (3) the psychoeducational intervention offered did not appear to have a moderating role. An implication of the current study is the inclusion of information on the effects of different types of crying on the development of parental stress.