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. 2022 Sep 16;19(18):11671.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph191811671.

Mattering and Depressive Symptoms in Portuguese Postpartum Women: The Indirect Effect of Loneliness

Bárbara Caetano  1 , Mariana Branquinho  2 , Maria Cristina Canavarro  2 , Ana Fonseca  2
Affiliations

Mattering and Depressive Symptoms in Portuguese Postpartum Women: The Indirect Effect of Loneliness

Bárbara Caetano et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Postpartum depression is described as the most prevalent clinical condition in the postpartum period, with several negative consequences. The current study aimed to understand the relationship between mattering, loneliness and depressive symptoms in Portuguese postpartum women and to examine the potential mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between mattering and depressive symptomatology among postpartum women.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included a sample collected online composed of 530 Portuguese women in the postpartum period, who answered self-report questionnaires to assess depressive symptoms, mattering, and loneliness.

Results: It was found that the relationships between mattering, loneliness, and depressive symptoms were significant, p < 0.001: (a) higher levels of mattering were associated with lower levels of loneliness and depressive symptomatology and (b) higher levels of loneliness were associated with higher levels of depressive symptomatology. The relationship between mattering and postpartum depressive symptoms occurred directly and indirectly through loneliness, 95% CI = [-0.75, -0.46].

Conclusions: These results highlight the importance of studying loneliness as a possible risk factor for postpartum depression and alert to the pertinence of considering mattering and loneliness in the assessment and intervention with women in the perinatal period.

Keywords: depressive symptoms; loneliness; mattering; postpartum; postpartum depression.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual scheme of the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Direct and indirect effects of the relationship between mattering and depressive symptoms in the postpartum. Note. Line values represent non-standard regression coefficients. In the line that links mattering to depressive symptomatology, the value outside the parenthesis represents the total effect of mattering in depressive symptomatology. The value within parentheses represents the direct effect, estimated from the analyses of bootstrapping, of mattering in depressive symptomatology, controlling loneliness. * p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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