Poster #101 - Trajectories of Postpartum Maternal Depression and Self-Efficacy, Childbirth to Three Years: Ecological Perspectives

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

The postpartum period is a major developmental transition that may be accompanied by mental health vulnerabilities such as depression (Studd and Nappi, 2012), with implications for children. The transition to motherhood is influenced both by maternal beliefs in parenting capabilities, or parent self-efficacy (PSE), which affect mental health (Choenarom et al. 2005), and by challenging situational contexts such as teen motherhood. Past research shows that low levels of PSE are associated with both post-partum depression and child behavior problems (Coleman & Karraker, 2000). The purpose of this study is to examine postpartum patterns of PSE and depression following childbirth, in order to: 1) identify longitudinal trajectory patterns of maternal depressive symptoms and PSE; 2) investigate the effect of comorbid postpartum PSE and depression trajectory patterns on children’s externalizing and internalizing behavior, at age three; and 3) explore the interaction of individual and contextual risk factors such as teen motherhood associated with symptom progression and child outcomes at three years post childbirth.

Study participants (n = 682) were drawn from the Predicting and Preventing Child Neglect in Teen Mothers project (Borkowski et al, 2011), addressing the impact of neglect and poor parenting on children’s development during the first 3 years of life. Measures included: 1) Maternal demographic characteristics (e.g. age, education); 2) Parent Self-Efficacy (PSE), measured using the PSCS Scale (Gibaud -Wallston, 1977) (α = .91); 3) Depressive symptoms, measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (Beck et al.,1996) (α = .93; 4); Child behavioral outcomes, measured using the ITSEA Scale (Carter & Briggs-Gowan, 2005), for child internalizing/externalizing behaviors (α = 81/.88); and 5) Childhood trauma, measured using the CTQ scale (Bernstein et al., 1994) (α = .71-.93). Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM) was used to develop the postpartum maternal trajectories; ANOVA was used to examine child outcomes for maternal trajectory groups.

GMM produced three classes of co-morbid symptom trajectories: 1) Resilient group (n = 628, 90% of sample), characterized by no post-partum depression and high levels of PSE from birth to 3 years; 2) Vulnerable group (n = 34, 5.8%), characterized by a significant increase in depressive symptoms until 24 months, followed by a decrease thereafter, with PSE remaining fairly stable (i.e. a non-significant linear trend); and 3) Chronic High-Risk group (n = 20, 4.2%), characterized by early onset depressive symptoms and low PSE. Children of mothers in the chronic high group showed higher levels of externalizing problems compared to both the resilient group and the vulnerable group (F(2,222) = 3.32, p = .038), higher levels of aggression and defiance (F (2, 357) = 5.28, p = .005) and higher levels of depression/withdrawal (F (2, 356) = 3.29, p = .038). Children of mothers in the vulnerable group showed higher levels of internalizing problems compared to the resilient group (F (2,220) = 2.60, p = .076). ITSEA subscales pertaining to peer aggression and activity/impulsivity revealed no significant differences across groups.
Study findings indicate patterns of maternal trajectories of PSE and depressive symptoms with implications for postpartum mothers and their children.

Authors

• Lawrence Schiamberg, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Gia Barboza, Northeastern University
  Non-Presenting Author