The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the psychosocial correlates of mental health in postpartum mothers of high-risk infants.
The specific aims of the study are: (1) to assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms at one to two months postpartum in mothers of high-risk infants and to compare their prevalence with that of control mothers; (2) to test path models of proposed relationships between psychosocial factors (chronic stress, stressful life events, quality and quantity of social resources, and self-esteem) and postpartum depressive symptoms; (3) to construct a multivariate path model that best summarizes the relationships between the psychosocial factors and maternal postpartum depressive symptoms and to determine whether this model varies by risk status of the infant (high-risk vs. control); and (4) to determine if the same statistical models of psychosocial predictors of postpartum depressive symptoms hold for psychosomatic symptoms. Data for this investigation were collected during 1986 and 1987 in a prospective study of the etiology of maltreatment among high-risk infants. Secondary analysis of the cross-sectional data from the completed in-home interviews with 821 mothers will be conducted. Measures of the mothers' chronic stress, stressful life events, quality of primary intimate relationships, quantity of social network ties, self-esteem, and depressive and psychosomatic symptoms will be utilized. Data will be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics as well as path analysis and structural equation modeling. Knowledge of the maternal psychosocial factors associated with postpartum depressive and psychosomatic symptoms in mothers of high-risk infants may provide new insights into directions for preventive nursing interventions.
| Hall, L A; Kotch, J B; Browne, D et al. (1996) Self-esteem as a mediator of the effects of stressors and social resources on depressive symptoms in postpartum mothers. Nurs Res 45:231-8 |
