Postpartum depression is a common and complex phenomenon that can cause relevant negative outcomes for children, women and families. Existing literature highlights a wide range of risk factors. The main focus of this paper is to jointly investigate different types of risk factors (socio-demographic, psychopathological, relational, and related to labor and birth experience) in post-partum depression onset in women during first-child pregnancy, identifying which of these are the most important predictors. A cohort longitudinal study was conducted on 161 Italian nulliparous low-risk women (Mage = 31.63; SD = 4.88) without elective cesarean. Data was collected at three different times: Socio-demographic, prenatal anxiety and depression, and quality of close relationship network (with mother, father and partner, and the prenatal attachment to child) were assessed at T1 (week 31–32 of gestation); clinical data on labor and childbirth (mode and typology of delivery, duration of labor, duration of eventual administration of epidural analgesia, and child's APGAR index at birth) were registered at T2 (the day of childbirth); and the degree of post-natal depression symptomatology was measured at T3 (1 month after birth). Postpartum depression is associated with several risk factors (woman's age, woman's prenatal psychopathological characteristics, the level of prenatal attachment to child, the quality of romantic relationship, and some clinical delivery difficulties). Overall, the level of prenatal attachment to child was the most important predictor of post-partum depression. These findings emphasize the very important role of prenatal attachment for the onset of postpartum depression and the need to promote adequate and targeted prevention interventions. Limitations, strengths, and theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
Friendship and romantic relationships are central to individual social life. These close relationships become increasingly significant during adolescence and early adulthood, promoting human development and well-being [1]. Despite their importance, there are no equivalent measures for the study of the quality of these different types of close relationships.The main aim of the present study was to develop an equivalent self-report measure to assess the quality of friendships and romantic relationships from adolescence to early adulthood. In Study 1 we took the Friendship Qualities Scale (FQS) developed by Bukowski, Hoza and Boivin [2] and adapted it for Italian adolescents and early-adults. The FQS reveals, via confirmatory factor analysis, five main qualitative dimensions: Conflict, Companionship, Help, Security and Closeness. In Study 2 we developed an equivalent version of the FQS, the Romance Qualities Scale (RQS) in order to measure the same five dimensions for romantic relationships.Data analyses verified the multidimensional factorial structure, the factorial invariance, and the reliability of both scales. Our studies therefore verify that the FQS and RQS are reliable measures to assess friendship and romantic relationship quality from adolescence to early adulthood.
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