Effects of Marital Status and Social Support on Antenatal Depression: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is a period of increased vulnerability to depression incidence, especially if the pregnancy is accompanied by additional demands. Antenatal depression is depression that occurs during pregnancy characterized by certain symptoms, namely anxiety, distress, confusion, and excessive fear. The study aims to estimate the effect size of marital status and social support on the incidence of antenatal depression in pregnant women. Subjects and Method:The study used systematic review and meta-analysis with PICO, Population: pregnant women; Intervention: marital status and strong social support; Comparison: unmarried marital status and weak social support. Outcome: antenatal depression. The articles used were obtained from several databases namely Google Scholar, Pubmed, SpringerLink, and Science Direct. The article search keywords were "Antenatal Depression" AND "Marital Status" AND "Social Support" AND "Pregnant Women". The inclusion criteria for the articles were full-text articles in English using cross-sectional observational study design, published between 2012 and 2022, the study subject was pregnant women, and the size of the association was presented in adjusted Odds ratio (aOR). The data were analyzed using Review Manager app (RevMan 5.3).

The Relationships Between Multidimensional Symptom Burden, Adaptation, and Depression During Pregnancy: A Cross-sectional Study

“…The mean depression score for the lowlevel adaptation group exceeded the threshold, indicating possible depression risk (COPE, 2017;RNAO, 2018), further highlighting the relevance of addressing and fostering adequate pregnancy adaptation as a potential preventive measure against prenatal depression. In our study, unmarried status emerged as a risk predictor, consistent with recent meta-analysis studies (Nugrahaeni et al, 2023;Yin et al, 2021), which found that unmarried expectant mothers had significantly higher odds of experiencing depression. This association may stem from negative public attitudes toward unmarried pregnancies, as pregnancies within married couples are generally more socially accepted and welcomed in Taiwan (Lai, 2022).…”

“…In the absence of a universally accepted prevention strategy, the identification of risk factors is vital for early detection. Although certain risk factors, such as low social support, limited income, single status, young age, and a family history of depression, have been identified through meta-analytic methodologies (Nugrahaeni et al, 2023;O'Connor et al, 2019), limited research has explored its relationship with the multidimensional burden of physical symptoms during pregnancy.…”