Dyadic Adjustment and Prenatal Parental Depression: A Study with Expectant Mothers and Fathers

Abstract

Introduction: This paper evaluated the relationships between the dyadic adjustment of expectant parents and prenatal maternal and paternal depression. Method: Participants were 98 couples who were expectant parents in the third trimester of pregnancy. Most couples (97%) were primiparous. Participants' prenatal depression, psychiatric symptomatology, perinatal affectivity, and dyadic adjustment were evaluated. Results: Hierarchical regression and relative weight analyses showed the importance of various marital adjustment dimensions in predicting prenatal maternal and paternal depression. In particular, the marital relationship variables of dyadic consensus and affective expression of both partners was related to prenatal depression in expectant mothers, with the relationship even stronger in expectant fathers. The results suggested that for both partners, perception of marital relationship quality contributes to the development of depressive symptoms in new mothers and fathers to a greater degree than the single perception of one partner. Discussion: Clinically, the results suggest that clinicians should focus on partner relationships in the perinatal period. The provision of psychological interventions to improve a couple's functioning may help to protect new parents against depressive symptomatology.

Screening for Early Signs of Paternal Perinatal Affective Disorder in Expectant Fathers: A Cluster Analysis Approach

“…The lack of differences on dyadic adjustment between men at risk of externalized behavioral problems and psychologically distressed men, suggests that a poor intimate relationship is a common thread among men experiencing perinatal affective symptomatology. This result highlights the relationship between individual and couple's functioning during pregnancy [11,25,85,86] and confirms the importance to consider dyadic and relational aspects as potential risk for men's health both in case of externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Indeed, other authors have focused on the negative impact that perinatal affective disorders had on marital quality, especially on marital and sexual satisfaction [87][88][89].…”

“…PPND is considered a specific disorder that many fathers may suffer from between pregnancy and the first year after childbirth. PPND is related to maternal perinatal depression [ 10 , 11 , 12 ] and poor outcomes in offspring, including externalizing and internalizing symptoms [ 13 , 14 , 15 ].…”

“…Several studies identified significant associations between PPND and some individual variables such as high levels of perceived stress [ 16 , 17 ], multiparity [ 2 , 18 , 19 ], having a previous history of psychiatric disorders [ 20 ], and experiencing stressful life events (e.g., job loss, divorce, mourning) [ 21 , 22 ]. Other studies have highlighted the positive correlation between PPND and risk of perinatal depression in their partners [ 23 , 24 ] and the negative association between PPND and marital adjustment [ 11 , 25 , 26 ].…”

The Development of the DDads Questionnaire: Awareness, Knowledge and Attitudes of the General Population Towards Paternal Depression

“…In this sense, healthcare services should offer a wider array of services, such as offering tailor-made individual, couple and peer support groups to accompany pregnancy. But also, the needs of expectant fathers should be considered since as previously noted, this could facilitate the pregnancy process and have a further positive effect in the whole family ( 13 ).…”

“…The so-called “masked men's depression,” may include symptoms as: irritability, rage, emotional rigidity, and sleep disorders ( 10 ). Paternal perinatal depression is often under-assessed or undiagnosed because of these indefinite clinical features ( 13 ).…”