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Postpartum depression and child development: An investigation of mothers and fathers as sources of risk and resilience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2009

Michelle G. Carro ,
Kathryn E. Grant ,
Ian H. Gotlib  and
Bruce E. Compas
Michelle G. Carro
Affiliation:
University of Vermont
Kathryn E. Grant
Affiliation:
University of Vermont
Ian H. Gotlib*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
Bruce E. Compas*
Affiliation:
University of Vermont
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ian H. Gotlib, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208;
Bruce E. Compas, Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405.
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Abstract

We examined maternal and paternal characteristics at 1 month postpartum as risk and protective factors for children's internalizing and externalizing problems at 2–3 years of age. In a sample of 70 couples and their children, fathers' depressive symptoms at 1 month postpartum predicted children's internalizing and externalizing problems at 2–3 years of age, and the interaction of fathers' and mothers' depressive symptoms predicted subsequent internalizing problems. Mothers' postpartum symptoms did not predict either type of children's behavior problems at age 2–3. When entered in the regression equations, mothers' depressive symptoms when the children were age 2–3 years accounted for all of the effects of paternal and maternal postpartum depressive symptoms. No evidence was found for the protective effects of marital satisfaction or social support, or for low levels of depressive symptoms in a spouse. We highlight directions for future risk and resilience research related to parental postpartum depression.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , Fall 1993 , pp. 567 - 579
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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