Depressive and anxiety symptoms through late pregnancy and the first year post birth: an examination of prospective relationships
Abstract
One hundred and fifty-nine women were measured for depressive and anxiety symptoms from late pregnancy through to 12 months postpartum. Partial correlations revealed stability of depressive and anxiety symptoms across time. Depressive symptoms did not predict anxiety at any time point. Anxiety predicted increases in depressive symptoms from late pregnancy to early postpartum, but not from early postpartum to mid postpartum. Anxiety predicted depressive symptoms from mid postpartum to late postpartum, however, not when social support in late pregnancy was controlled for.
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Stress and anxiety experienced during the perinatal period are likely to affect the mother's mental health.
“This is of particular interest as stress and anxiety experienced during this period are likely to affect the mother’s mental health [1–3] and impact on the relationship between the mother and her infant [4, 5].”
From Effects of an antenatal mindfulness-based childbirth and parenting programme on the postpartum experiences of mothers: a qualitative interview study. (2017) · cites this paper as [3]
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- Authors
- Moss, K. M., Skouteris, H., Wertheim, E. H., Paxton, S. J., & Milgrom, J.
- Affiliations
- La Trobe University (AU)
- Deakin University (AU)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Skouteris, Helen
- Wertheim, Eleanor H.
- Venue
- Archives of Women's Mental Health
- Published
- 2009-06-30
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 345-349
- ISSN
- 1434-1816 (ISSN-L)
- 1435-1102
- OpenAlex
- W2018780857
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Archives of Women s Mental Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, late pregnancy, postpartum period, maternal mental health, anxiety-depression relationship, social support, symptom stability
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety Disorders, Depressive Disorder, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Personality Inventory, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications, Pregnancy Trimester, Third, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Social Support, Statistics as Topic, Comorbidity, Depression, Postpartum, Young Adult
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