Personality and risk for postpartum depressive symptoms

Abstract

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a common childbirth complication, affecting 10-15 % of newly delivered mothers. This study aims to assess the association between personality factors and PPD. All pregnant women during the period September 2009 to September 2010, undergoing a routine ultrasound at Uppsala University Hospital, were invited to participate in the BASIC study, a prospective study designed to investigate maternal well-being. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) while the Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS) was used as a diagnostic tool for major depression. Personality traits were evaluated using the Swedish Universities Scale of Personality (SSP). One thousand thirty-seven non-depressed pregnant women were included in the study. Non-depressed women reporting high levels of neuroticism in late pregnancy were at high risk of developing postpartum depressive symptoms (PPDSs) at 6 weeks and 6 months after delivery, even after adjustment for confounders (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 3.4, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.8-6.5 and adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 3.9, 95 % CI 1.9-7.9). The same was true for a DSRS-based diagnosis of major depression at 6 months postpartum. Somatic trait anxiety and psychic trait anxiety were associated with increased risk for PPDS at 6 weeks (aOR = 2.1, 95 % CI 1.2-3.5 and aOR = 1.9, 95 % CI 1.1-3.1), while high scores of mistrust were associated with a twofold increased risk for PPDS at 6 months postpartum (aOR 1.9, 95 % CI 1.1-3.4). Non-depressed pregnant women with high neuroticism scores have an almost fourfold increased risk to develop depressive symptoms postpartum, and the association remains robust even after controlling for most known confounders. Clinically, this could be of importance for health care professionals working with pregnant and newly delivered women.

Stability of personality traits over a five-year period in Swedish patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder and non-psychotic individuals: a study using the Swedish universities scales of personality

“…The self-report questionnaire SSP consists of 91 items grouped into 13 different scales [19] [25][26][27], similar internal consistencies [19,21,22,25], similar factor loadings between different samples [19,21,22,40,41] and conformity with other personality constructs has been documented [21].…”

Recent advances in understanding maternal perinatal mood disorders

“…Personality disorders existing prior to conception were demonstrated to be related to anxious and depressive symptoms in pregnancy, independently of the effect of coexisting mood or anxiety disorders 13 . Neuroticism, which has been previously identified as a risk factor, was also affirmed to confer significant risk for postpartum depression in a prospective study of 1,037 non-depressed pregnant women 14 .…”

Does Fathers' Prenatal Mental Health Bear a Relationship to Parenting Stress at 6 Months?

“…Also note that most anxiety research has been done on mothers and women, and that less is known about paternal stress experiences during the prenatal period. Nevertheless, some studies have shown that depressed and anxious fathers during pregnancy experience similar symptoms as those reported by depressed mothers (Field et al., ; Field et al., ) while other studies have noted that paternal anxiety may increase the risk of developing depression (Iliadis et al., ).…”