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Social support and postpartum depression
Author(s) -
Logsdon Mimia Cynthia,
McBride Angela Barron
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.4770170608
Subject(s) - social support , postpartum depression , closeness , generalizability theory , spouse , depression (economics) , edinburgh postnatal depression scale , psychology , postpartum period , medicine , clinical psychology , pregnancy , psychiatry , developmental psychology , social psychology , mathematical analysis , genetics , mathematics , macroeconomics , sociology , anthropology , economics , biology
Discrepancies between prenatal social support expectations and subsequent perceptions of support actually received were examined in relation to postpartum depression. Low‐risk primiparous women ( N = 105) were surveyed 1 month before and 1 month after delivery. Almost half of the women prenatally and one third postpartally had depression scores which would lead them to be classified as possibly depressed (CES‐D scores of 16 or greater). In multiple regression, two social support discrepancy measures, prenatal depression and postpartal closeness to husband, correlated with postpartal depression and accounted for nearly 40% of its variance. The generalizability of the findings should be further explored, but the findings suggest the need for attention to prenatal expectations of postpartum support as a way to influence the incidence of postpartum depression. In addition, continued efforts to identify causes of postpartum closeness with the spouse are needed.