Regular Symposium PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH IN MOTHERS AND FATHERS: DEVELOPMENTAL, CLINICAL, AND CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
Friday 24 July 09:50 - 11:20
Hall: 18 - Room 15 SA

Chair and Presenter: Infurna Maria Rita

Discussant: Mazzeschi Claudia

Division: Division 6: Clinical and Community Psychology

General Abstract
This symposium examines the perinatal period through diverse perspectives and methods, highlighting its complexity as both a time of vulnerability and growth.
The perinatal stage is a uniquely sensitive phase, marked by profound psychological, biological, and relational changes. Becoming a parent requires reorganizing one's identity and integrating new roles while facing the upheavals that accompany the arrival of a child. While this process may foster development and fulfilment, it also heightens the risk of psychological distress, particularly when combined with earlier adversities or limited support.
Therefore, understanding how mothers and fathers navigate this transition is crucial for promoting well-being and healthy child development. Mental health in this period must be viewed developmentally, spanning early experiences and parenthood. Childhood adversity, birth-related stressors, and preventive resources all significantly shape parental adjustment and the emerging parent-child relationship.
For these reasons, this symposium brings together research on how adverse experiences, perinatal challenges, and targeted interventions interact to influence parental well-being. Its novelty lies in integrating longitudinal data, computational methods, cross-cultural evidence, and clinically informed preventive practices. Together, these contributions highlight risk and resilience pathways and demonstrate how empirical findings can guide more effective strategies.
The first contribution focuses on pregnancy and applies machine learning to identify psychosocial predictors of prenatal depressive symptoms and highlights the protective role of reflective function. The second examines how adverse childhood experiences affect paternal antenatal bonding through depression, emphasizing early screening for fathers. The third investigates depressive symptom trajectories in 3,700 mothers and co-parents, identifying shared and gender-specific predictors. The fourth draws on data from 11,000 women across 31 countries to describe universal and culture-specific profiles of childbirth-related PTSD. Finally, the fifth introduces an online psychodynamic video-feedback intervention for vulnerable mothers, showing promising effects on reflective function, sensitivity, and well-being.

3271

09:50
THE ROLE OF PERINATAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL FACTORS IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY RISK PATHWAYS: A MACHINE LEARNING APPROACH

Antonucci Linda Antonella * [1] , Rollo Simone [1] , Fanizza Antonella [1] , Franciosa Giuseppe [1] , Dispoto Eleonora [1] , Asselti Martina Grazia [1] , Pennacchio Teresa Claudia [1] , Pergola Giulio [1] , Infurna Maria Rita [2]

Department of Translational Biomedicine and Neuroscience, University of Bari Aldo Moro ~ Bari ~ Italy [1] , Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo ~ Palermo ~ Italy [2]
3280

09:50
FROM CHILDHOOD TRAUMA TO FATHERHOOD: THE IMPACT OF ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES ON PATERNAL PRENATAL BONDING AND DEPRESSION

Infurna Maria Rita * [1] , Bevacqua Eleonora [1] , Riolo Martina [1] , Guarneri Claudia [1] , Mineo Raffaella [1] , Rini Claudia [1] , Sottile Jada [1] , Garthus-Niegel Susan [2] , Fazio Leonardo [3]

Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo ~ Palermo ~ Italy [1] , Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden ~ Dresden ~ Germany [2] , LUM University 'Giuseppe Degennaro', Casamassima ~ Bari ~ Italy [3]
3289

09:50
TRAJECTORIES OF DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN MOTHERS AND CO-PARENTS ACROSS THE TRANSITION TO PARENTHOOD: A GROWTH MIXTURE MODELING APPROACH

Staudt Andreas [1] , Horsch Antje [2] , Asselmann Eva [3] , Unger Stefanie * [1] , Garthus-Niegel Susan [1]

Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden ~ Dresden ~ Germany [1] , Institute of Higher Education and Research in Healthcare, University of Lausanne ~ Lausanne ~ Switzerland [2] , Faculty of Health, HMU Health and Medical University ~ Potsdam ~ Germany [3]
3291

09:50
INTERNATIONAL SYMPTOM PROFILES OF CHILDBIRTH-RELATED PTSD

Constantinou Georgina * , The Intersect Consortium

City St George's, University of London ~ London ~ United Kingdom
3292

09:50
DEVELOPMENT OF A PSYCHODYNAMICALLY ORIENTED INTERVENTION MODEL FOR MOTHERS IN VULNERABLE POSTNATAL CONDITIONS

Tambelli Renata * [1] , Favieri Francesca [2] , Mazza Cristina [3]

Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, "Sapienza" University of Rome ~ Rome ~ Italy [1] , Department of Psychology, G. D'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara ~ Chieti ~ Italy [2] , Department of Human Neuroscience, "Sapienza" University of Rome ~ Rome ~ Italy [3]