Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:45:38.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Affective Disorder in Mothers of Young Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Evelyn J. Bromet
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology
Zahava H. Solomon
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology
Leslie O. Dunn
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
Nancy N. Nicklas
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylavania 15261, USA

Summary

This research assessed the rate of affective disorder in 124 mothers of preschool children, which was found to be lower than in earlier studies, i.e. twelve per cent during the child-rearing years, and eight per cent in the year before interview. In half of those mothers who had an affective episode during the child-rearing years, its onset had predated the birth of the first child. We investigated sociodemographic and social support variables in relation to clinical and subclinical disturbance and found only modest associations.

The apparent discrepancy between the present findings and those of previous research is discussed in relation to environmental and methodological factors.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bromet, E. et al (1980) Three Mile Island: Mental Health Findings. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Brown, G., Ní Bhrolcháin, M. & Harris, T. (1975) Social class and psychiatric disturbance among women in an urban population. Sociology, 9, 225–54.Google Scholar
Brown, G., Ní Bhrolcháin, M., Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Derogatis, L. R. (1977) The SCL-90 Manual I: Scoring, Administration and Procedures for the SCL-90. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Clinical Psychometrics Unit.Google Scholar
Dohrenwend, B. P. & Dohrenwend, B. S. (1969) Social Status and Psychological Disorder. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Dohrenwend, B. P. & Dohrenwend, B. S. (1974) Psychiatric disorders in urban settings. In American Handbook of Psychiatry, 2nd Edition, Volume Two (ed. Arieti, S.). New York: Basic Books, Inc.Google Scholar
Endicott, J. & Spitzer, R. (1978) A diagnostic interview: The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 837–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hollingshead, A. B. & Redlich, F. C. (1958) Social Class and Mental Illness. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1975) The Role of Diagnosis in Psychiatry. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Link, B. & Dohrenwend, B. (1980) Formulation of hypotheses about the true prevalence of demoralization in the United States. In Mental Illness in the United States, Epidemiological Estimates (eds. Dohrenwend, B., Dohrenwend, B., Gould, M. et al). New York: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Moss, P. & Plewis, I. (1977) Mental distress in mothers of pre-school children in Inner London. Psychological Medicine, 7, 641–52.Google Scholar
Mueller, D. (1978) Social Networks and Depression: An Exploratory Study. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Richman, N. (1974) The effects of housing on pre-school children and their mothers. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 16, 53–8.Google Scholar
Richman, N. (1977) Behaviour problems in pre-school children: Family and social factors. British Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 523–7.Google Scholar
Robins, L., Davis, D. & Wish, E. (1977) Detecting predictors of rare events: Demographic, family and personal deviance as predictors of stages in the progression toward narcotic addiction. In The Origins and Course of Psychopathology (eds. Strauss, J., Babigian, H. and Roff, M.). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Silverman, C. (1968) The Epidemiology of Depression. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria: Rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–82.Google Scholar
Zajicek, E. & Wolkind, S. (1978) Emotional difficulties in married women during and after the first pregnancy. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 51, 379–85.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.