z-logo
Premium
Impact of Having a First Child on Maternal Depressive Symptoms: Does the Birth of a Mother's First Baby Increase Symptoms of Depression in the Mother?
Author(s) -
Jung EunHee,
Yoo Joan P.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
asian social work and policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.286
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1753-1411
pISSN - 1753-1403
DOI - 10.1111/aswp.12033
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , depressive symptoms , intervention (counseling) , psychology , welfare , panel survey , medicine , clinical psychology , psychiatry , developmental psychology , demography , anxiety , sociology , political science , law , economics , macroeconomics
Previous studies on the impact of having a first child on a mother's psychological well‐being has not been extensively examined in Korea. The present study aims to understand how having a first child is associated with a first‐time mother's depressive symptoms when compared with their childless counterparts. A sample of 140 women aged 20–40 years, married, and childless in wave 1 of the Korean National Welfare Panel Study ( KOWEPS ) was selected. The depressive symptoms of women who became mothers between wave 1 and wave 2 of the study and those who remained childless were compared using CES ‐ D . Two different types of analytical methods (i.e. pooled OLS , fixed effects model) were employed. The results consistently indicated that Korean mothers were more depressed after the birth of the first child than wives without a child. Employment status and satisfaction of social relationship were associated with women's depression in the fixed effect model. The consistent finding that shows a negative association between having a first child and maternal depressive symptoms provides empirical grounds for the development of prevention and intervention programs for first‐time mothers. Implications of the study findings are discussed.

This content is not available in your region!

Continue researching here.

Having issues? You can contact us here