RISK AND RESILIENCE FOR POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION IN MOTHERS OF INFANTS WHO REQUIRED NEONATAL-INTENSIVE-CARE-UNIT HOSPITALIZATION
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Date
2018-01-01
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Department
Psychology
Program
Psychology
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Access limited to the UMBC community. Item may possibly be obtained via Interlibrary Loan thorugh a local library, pending author/copyright holder's permission.
This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Abstract
Abstract Postpartum depression is linked to significant negative outcomes for mothers, their life partners, and, particularly, their infants and young children. However, postpartum depression is the most common undiagnosed and untreated maternal mental health disorder in the United States and around the world. Mothers of infants treated in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and who experience a developmental delay may be at particularly high risk for developing postpartum depression. There are few available well-validated measures that screen mothers for risk or protective factors for postpartum depression. The present study examined multiple factors hypothesized to increase risk or promote resilience for postpartum depression. Participants were 148 biological mothers of infants, currently or previously treated in a NICU. Mothers provided demographic information and completed measures of pregnancy unhappiness, avoidance coping, perceived life stress, relationship satisfaction, and social support, and answered questions regarding their awareness of, concerns about, and personal preferences for receiving services and support if and when they experienced symptoms of postpartum depression. Higher pregnancy unhappiness, perceived stress, and use of avoidance coping were associated with higher postpartum depression symptoms scores; higher relationship satisfaction and social support were associated with lower scores. In addition, social support moderated the effects of stress on mothers' symptoms of postpartum depression but did not moderate the effects of stress on mothers' use of avoidance coping. Keywords: Depression, Postpartum Depression, Risk, Resilience, NICU