The Link between Maternal Mental Health and Infant and Toddler Development
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Behavioral and Mental Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 1783
Special Issue Editor
Interests: early human development; early neurodevelopmental assessments of high-risk infants and toddlers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The first 1000 days of life, the period from conception and during full-term pregnancy (270 days) until the toddler's second birthday (730 days), is seen as an opportune time, but also a time of great vulnerability, when the building blocks for optimum neurodevelopment are established. Beyond the child's genetic makeup, experience in the world is acknowledged as the primary contributing source of growth and neurodevelopment. Therefore, nurturing care, typically provided by the mother, is a fundamental primary requirement for the optimal development of the young child. However, maternal mental health disorders and exposure to stressful events may disrupt healthy caregiving behavior. Poor maternal mental health can reduce sensitive and responsive maternal caregiving behaviors, which may compromise the mother–child relationship and profoundly affect the child's environment and development. The question we want to address is what happens to the developmental brain when a fetus and/or young child is exposed to maternal mental health disorder(s) during critical periods of brain development.
This Special Issue, entitled "The Link between Maternal Mental Health and Infant and Toddler Development", invites original research articles, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and brief reports related to the associations between maternal anxiety, psychosis and/or mood disorders (or the comorbidity thereof) and the development of the young child.
Dr. Marlette Burger
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- maternal mental health disorders
- perinatal
- infant
- toddler
- development
- neurodevelopment
- maternal psychosis
- maternal mood
- maternal anxiety
