Abstract
This study investigated how personality traits are related to postnatal depression 2 weeks after giving birth and whether these relations are mediated by postnatal anxiety, measured after 3–4 days after giving birth and moderated by the type of birth. New mothers (N = 672, Mage = 29.33) completed scales assessing their personality traits, postnatal anxiety, and postnatal depression 3 or 4 days after giving birth (T1). They also reported postnatal depression 2 weeks after giving birth (T2). Path analysis indicated that postnatal anxiety explained the link between personality traits (i.e., neuroticism) and postnatal depression 2 weeks after childbirth. The type of birth moderated the relation among, personality traits, postnatal anxiety and depression. Neuroticism and consciousness, in the natural birth’s group, and neuroticism and agreeableness, in the cesarean birth’s group, were associated with postnatal depression. Further, anxiety explained the relation between neuroticism and postnatal depression in both natural and cesarean birth groups. In addition, postnatal anxiety mediated the relation between extraversion and postnatal depression in the cesarean birth group. Our findings highlight that postnatal anxiety is a potential mechanism explaining how personality traits (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion) are related to postnatal depression, and that these relations may depend on the type of childbirth.
Highlights
Several clinical phenomena for the postpartum period were described in the literature, including maternity blues, postnatal depression and postnatal psychosis (Henshaw, 2003)
We found a main effect of educational level on postnatal depression at T2, F(2,669) = 7.38, p = 0.001; women with elementary education reported higher levels of postnatal depression (M = 8.17, SD = 5.78) than women with high school or college degree (M = 5.69, SD = 2.00 and M = 4.66, SD = 3.6, respectively)
Our study enhances the literature on the relation among personality traits, postnatal anxiety and postnatal depression during the postnatal period
Summary
Several clinical phenomena for the postpartum period were described in the literature, including maternity blues, postnatal (or postpartum) depression and postnatal psychosis (Henshaw, 2003). The maternity blues (postnatal blues or third-day depression) period usually characterizes the first week after giving birth, and it is defined as a sad disposition that could be accompanied by affective dispositional lability, soft crying and confusion, fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, lost appetite and irritability (Clay and Seehusen, 2004; Robertson et al, 2004). Considering the negative consequences with this disorder, more studies are needed to explore the role of psychological factors, which were less investigated in the previous literature (see Verkerk et al, 2005 for exceptions) on the etiology of postnatal depression. Our study explored how personality traits are linked to postnatal depression and whether postnatal anxiety and type of birth could be potential explaining mechanisms of these relations on a sample of new Romanian mothers
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