INFLUENCE OF MARITAL RELATIONSHIP AND CHILD-CARE STRESS ON MATERNAL DEPRESSION SYMPTOMS IN THE POSTPARTUM

The predictive influence of two psychosocial factors (marital adjustme nt and child-care stress) on maternal depressive symptoms at 6, 9 and 12 months postpartum, was investigated. Seventy-one women from a sampl e of 202 primiparae from a larger study were included. The women were primarily educated, white, middle-class, married women in their early 30s who returned to work within the first postpartum year Regression a nalyses indicated that the interaction of marital adjustment and child -care stress significantly influenced maternal depression symptoms at 9 months postpartum. The findings from this study support the necessit y for following women beyond the early weeks and months of postpartum in subsequent research.