COPING, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN ADOLESCENT MOTHERS

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine how the degree of depressive symptomatology among adolescent mothers differentiated mate rnal outcomes, social support, and coping at 6 months postpartum. Meth ods: Fifty primiparous adolescents, predominantly black and of low inc ome, participated in the study. During a home visit at 6 months postpa rtum, a research assistant, blind to the study's hypotheses, administe red questionnaires related to depressive symptoms, coping with motherh ood, social support, maternal confidence, and maternal gratification. Feeding and teaching interactions between mother and child were observ ed. Results: Fifty-six percent of the subjects had no depressive sympt oms (group 1), 20% reported mild symptoms (group 2), and 24% reported moderate to severe symptoms (group 3). Adolescents with mild or modera te depressive symptoms had more negative feeding interactions with the ir infants, reported less maternal confidence and gratification, and u sed more emotion-focused coping than their nondepressed counterparts. While the groups did not differ in the frequency with which they recei ved social support, adolescents with mild or moderate depressive sympt oms were less satisfied with this support. No differences were found a mong groups with regard to the size of their conflicted networks. Conc lusions: This study extends the research findings related to depressiv e symptoms among adult mothers to a sample of adolescent mothers. Alth ough the study design is crosssectional and therefore causal sequences cannot be determined, the results identify factors that may place cer tain adolescents at risk for problems in parenting. The authors sugges t screening adolescent mothers during the first postpartum year for sy mptoms of depression.