Maternal Touch During Mother-Infant Interactions in Infants With and Without an Elevated Likelihood for Autism: Links With Symptom-Level Difficulties of Maternal Psychological Stress.
Maternal depression cuts warm touch in EL-infant play, so supporting Mom’s mental health protects early social development.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers filmed mothers playing with their babies in the lab. Some babies had an older sibling with autism, so they were at elevated likelihood for autism. Others had no family history.
The team counted every second of maternal touch during the 10-minute play. They also asked moms about depressive symptoms and stress.
What they found
Mothers of EL infants who felt more depressed touched their babies for shorter periods. Preterm EL moms used less warm, affectionate touch.
The pattern was not seen in moms of typical infants. Touch dropped only when moms reported higher depression.
How this fits with other research
Papageorgopoulou et al. (2024) followed the same EL babies for three years. They saw that poorer early interaction predicted later autism diagnosis. Byiers et al. (2025) now shows one reason early interaction can falter: depressed moms touch less.
Ingersoll et al. (2011) and Eussen et al. (2016) already found moms of autistic children feel more depressed. The new study pushes the timeline backward, linking depression to reduced tactile parenting in infancy.
Kuhn et al. (2018) showed weak support networks raise maternal depression in teen years. Together the papers trace a chain: weak supports → maternal depression → fewer warm touches → weaker infant engagement.
Why it matters
When you coach families of EL infants, screen Mom’s mood first. A simple five-question depression scale can flag risk. Offer brief parent-child touch coaching or refer Mom to counseling. One extra minute of affectionate touch per play session may help the baby stay socially engaged and improve long-term outcomes.
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Add a two-item mood check to every EL-infint visit and model one affectionate-touch play move for Mom to copy.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Infants at elevated likelihood for autism (EL infants) have varied developmental outcomes. This exposes parents to a unique parenting journey, and in some, heightened psychological stress. This study investigated how maternal psychological stress is linked to variations in mother-infant interactions, specifically touch. We focused on mothers of EL infants, including infants with an older autistic sibling and infants born preterm (< 30 weeks), as well as mothers of infants at typical likelihood for autism (TL infants). At 10 months, maternal touch was coded during mother-infant interactions (n = 100) and psychological stress was measured using the Brief Symptom Inventory (n = 108). Results showed that mothers of sibling infants (n = 44) reported higher depressive symptoms compared to mothers of TL infants (n = 22). Mothers of preterm infants (n = 39) used less affectionate and caregiving touch and had shorter total touch duration, compared to mothers of TL infants (n = 20), and to a lesser extent, mothers of sibling infants (n = 41). In addition, mothers of sibling infants exhibited more high-intensity touch than both mothers of preterm and TL infants. Notably, increased depressive symptoms were associated with decreased touch duration in mothers of sibling (n = 41) and preterm infants (n = 39) only. These findings underscore the complex relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and maternal use of touch.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2025 · doi:10.1002/aur.70067