Prevalence, correlates, and persistence of maternal depression

Abstract

Aims and methods: Using a birth cohort, these secondary analyses document the prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms in mothers of young children, as well as the rates and predictors of persistent and incident elevated depressive symptoms at a 1-year follow-up.

Results: At the initial survey, approximately 17% of women with young children had elevated depressive symptoms. Forty-six percent of women with initial elevated depressive symptoms continued to have elevated depressive symptoms at the 1-year follow-up. Results of adjusted regression models indicated that elevated initial symptoms were associated with such factors as comorbid anxiety symptoms, parenting distress, poor physical health, financial strain, stressful life events, low social support, low family expressiveness, and younger child age. For the subset of women with partners (n = 860), quality of the relationship with the partner and partner involvement were significant correlates of initial elevated depressive symptoms. Persistent elevated depressive symptoms were significantly associated with high anxiety symptoms, high family conflict, and low maternal education. Predictors of incident cases of elevated depressive symptoms indicated that in addition to sociodemographic correlates, education and maternal race/ethnicity, physical health, parenting distress, and parent and child life events are related to the development of elevated symptoms.

Conclusions: Elevated depressive symptoms are common, and almost one half of the women in our sample with elevated depressive symptoms at the initial assessment also had elevated symptoms at the 1-year follow-up. Persistent and incident elevated depressive symptoms had different predictors, suggesting that identification and treatment of maternal depression must continue beyond the immediate postpartum period to prevent negative consequences of depression for mothers and their young children.