Abstract
Background: Although perinatal women experience an elevated level of affective instability (AI), limited research has been conducted to examine perinatal AI and its relation to depression and anxiety. The current study investigated correlations between AI and depression, between AI and anxiety during the perinatal period, and between current depression and anxiety and the latent factors of the Affective Lability Scale-18 (ALS-18). Methods: 202 Canadian perinatal women participated in this cross-sectional study. The ALS-18 was used to assess AI, while the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 measured depression, anxiety, and stress. Multiple logistic regression was performed to investigate the relationship between AI and depression and anxiety, and multiple linear regression was conducted to examine the association between current depression and anxiety and the three latent factors of ALS-18. Results: The findings revealed a significant association between AI and depression and between AI and anxiety. Current depression and anxiety were correlated with ALS-18 factors of depression/anxiety shift and depression/elation shift, while current depression was linked to ALS-18 factor of anger. Conclusions: The study findings have important implications for early detection and intervention of maternal anxiety and depression. In order to improve maternal mental health, AI should be included in routine perinatal check-ups.
Highlights
Letourneau and PanagiotaThe transition to motherhood often represents a period where women face increased vulnerability to developing anxiety and mood-related disturbances, including depression and affective instability (AI) [1–3]
Present in 50% of the participating women (ALS-18 score > mean), while 24.3% of women were screened positive for depression (DASS-21 depression subscale score ≥ 21), 28.7% had a score for anxiety above the threshold (DASS-21 anxiety subscale score ≥ 15), 37.1% felt stressed (DASS-21 stress subscale score ≥ 26), and
Multivariate logistic regression results revealed that depression, anxiety, history of depression, history of anxiety, and support from significant others were strongly linked to AI (Table 3), indicating significant independent effects, while holding all other variables constant
Summary
The transition to motherhood often represents a period where women face increased vulnerability to developing anxiety and mood-related disturbances, including depression and affective instability (AI) [1–3]. These mood-related symptoms and anxiety are thought to be caused by hormonal fluctuations that occur during this period of time [4,5]. Based on the literature [8,36,37], AI in perinatal women has been investigated largely under the concept of postpartum blues, a time frame of 14 days after giving birth, while AI as a distinct feature across pregnancy and postpartum period has been less studied. The current study aimed to investigate the associations between AI and depression and between AI and anxiety after adjusting for other confounders in a community sample of pregnant and postpartum women
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