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Course and correlates of postpartum depression during the transition to parenthood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Susan B. Campbell ,
Jeffrey. F. Cohn ,
Clare Flanagan ,
Sally Popper  and
Teri Meyers
Susan B. Campbell*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Jeffrey. F. Cohn
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Clare Flanagan
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Sally Popper
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Teri Meyers
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
*
Address reprint requests to: Dr. S. Campbell, Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology Program, University of Pittsburgh, 4015 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.
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Abstract

The transition to parenthood marks a major milestone in family development that is especially difficult for roughly 10% of postpartum women who develop clinical depressions serious enough to interfere with daily functioning. Relatively little is known about the course of postpartum depression, the factors associated with its onset or severity, or its impact on the quality of mother-infant interaction. We studied 70 depressed women and 59 demographically matched nondepressed women delivering their first child and then followed them longitudinally through 24 months. Although the majority of depressions had remitted by 6 months postpartum, some women were depressed throughout the follow-up period, and others continued to evidence subclinical symptoms, indicating that depression in postpartum women can be relatively chronic. Depressed women differed from comparison women on measures of personal and family history, their adaptation to pregnancy, and minor pregnancy and delivery complications. They also perceived their infants as more difficult to care for and their husbands as less supportive. A combination of these variables accounted for 49% of the variance in depression severity scores at 2 months. Depressed women also showed less positive engagement and more negative affect when observed with their infants at 2 months. Spouse support and maternal positive engagement with the baby at 2 months differentiated between those with more chronic versus short-lived depressions. The implications of these findings for the woman's and her infant's development are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , January 1992 , pp. 29 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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