Parental postpartum depression and children’s receptive and expressive language during the first six years of life: A systematic review of depression timing, status, and chronicity

Parental postpartum depression may be a risk factor for children’s early language development. However, previous empirical findings have been inconclusive regarding these relations. Moreover, previous reviews of this topic have summarized across measures of language. The purpose of the present systematic review was to summarize and synthesize the relations between parental postpartum depression and children’s language development while treating language as a multidimensional construct and while considering the nature of parental depression. We identified empirical articles in the PsycInfo®/ProQuest database (8/15/2023) and through additional strategies. Articles were screened and considered eligible for inclusion based on several criteria. Twenty-six studies were included in the present systematic review. Included articles were evaluated for risk bias using a tool produced by Glod and colleagues (2015) and adapted for the present study. Findings were organized by the aspect of language (i.e., receptive, expressive) and the nature of parents’ depression (timing, status, chronicity). Varying levels of support were found for the assertion that parental depression is related to children’s receptive and expressive language. Significant relations are more likely to be found later in early childhood indicating a delayed effect of parental postpartum depression. Further, there was inconclusive support concerning the role of depression status and depression chronicity in relation to children’s language development. Additional work is needed to clarify these relations. Directions for future work are recommended that would explore mediating mechanisms, the role of fathers’ depression and how other aspects of parental mental health play a role in these relations. As a limitation, the scope of the present systematic review excluded studies of older children and studies of more general language development that are relevant to informing future work.