Postpartum Depression: Adverse Effects on Spouses and Child Development - Essay Sample

Introduction

Welcoming a newborn baby in the family is deemed as one of the jovial moments. However, despite this happy moment knocking on the door, many spouses have found themselves struggling to keep up with the stress brought along with the newborn. Maternal Postpartum Depression Symptoms (PDS) are highly interlinked with the adverse child development outcomes, as well as pessimistic personality. Despite the adverse effects of PDS on spouses, little study has been undertaken on the topic to expand the effects of PDS. Therefore, the purpose of the study is widely geared towards examining whether father's and mother's prenatal motivation to have a new baby predicted the possibilities of depression symptoms within the first three to six months after the newborn has arrived.

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What hypothesis is tested?

The motivation to have a newborn baby, which is highly fueled by parental autonomous motivation, significantly predicted one's Postpartum Depression Symptoms (PDS). Moreover, this predicted the other partner's PDS. Therefore, the finding s concluded that PDS stress was equal in both genders.

The postpartum period brings significant changes in the life of spouses, which increases emotional vulnerability. With one partner experiencing a different variation of stress, it is easier to subject the other partner to a similar condition during the first three to six months after birth.

How did the researchers investigate their research question?

The study involved a sample of 90 heterosexual married couples that were recruited via a social network platform, such as email, Facebook, and WhatsApp (Reut, & KanatMaymon, 2018). The essence of using different social network channels was geared toward expanding the research pool by diversifying the channels of recruitment.

The researcher conducted the study through a diverse range of participants, varying in their age groups. For instance, the research incorporated women between the age of 21 to 41 years, while men were between the range of 21 to 51 years. The study also incorporated the mean duration of the marriage to establish the likelihood of the couples having given birth to one or two children (Reut, & KanatMaymon, 2018).

At time 1, women were pregnant 10-40 weeks, while 48.3% of the women were pregnant with their first child. 36.1% were pregnant with their second child, while only 15.6% were pregnant with their third child (Reut, & KanatMaymon, 2018). The researcher also obtained demographics and pregnancy measures of the women, as well as their motivation behind what triggered them to undertake their decision. More so, the researcher obtained their depressive symptoms.

The babies were born between week 35 and week 42 of pregnancy, where 60% of the newborn babies were female, while 40% of the babies born were male (Reut, & KanatMaymon, 2018). The participants recorded their babies and their birth details, including levels of depressive symptoms.

The study utilized the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale CES-D to assess the participants' depressive symptoms. CES-D has been widely used to assess PPD, and PDS in both women and men, hence becoming a suitable choice in the study.

What are the pertinent results of the manipulation?

A positive correlation between men and women was depicted, which was higher as compared to what was recorded at time one when the pregnancies were between 10 to 40 weeks. The universal analysis was also conducted, examining the differences in the research variables based on pregnancy, demographics, and baby measurements. As a result, no significant correlations were obtained between the participant's age and the Relative Autonomy Index (RAI). There were no prenatal depressive symptoms found between the Relative Autonomy Index and levels of education amongst the participants. Nevertheless, significant differences in gender were observed in prenatal depression symptoms, which concluded that women had more depressive symptoms than men. Women also recorded higher levels of PDS, indicating that gender difference was another critical factor in understanding the prevalence of Postpartum Depression Symptoms (PDS).

As hypothesized, a person's autonomous motive to have a child reflects their levels of Postpartum Depression Symptoms (PDS), which is above the baseline depression symptoms. A parent or a parent-to-be experiences less PDS if they made their choice freely, without any external or internal pressure. Parents or parent-to-be who made the decision based on internal or external pressure experience a higher level of PDS, which affects both parents.

What is your personal opinion of the study conducted?

Even though the study has diversified its findings, through recruiting from various social networks, some stones were left unturned in the study. One of the areas where the study should have emphasized is on the diversification of different ethnic groups to help understand how different cultures are affected by the study. On the contrary, the study should have also included the financial income of the couples to help understand the influence of financial constraints on early parenting. Culture, wealth, and community surrounding the parent-to-be play a vital role in determining the levels of Postpartum Depression Symptoms (PDS). Therefore, the financial details of the participants should have been incorporated to determine if parents with low income are more affected compared to those with better financial incomes.

What is your overall impression of the work?

As a way of understanding the causes of stress in parents, the study has outlined on a critical subject, on how parents are affected by PDS during the first three to six months after birth. Parents who were not pushed by external forces to make the decision are not severely affected compared to those pushed by an external force. In general, the study has outlined critical sections, which can help in counseling couples to help manage levels of PDS.

References

Reut, N., & KanatMaymon, Y. (2018). Spouses' prenatal autonomous motivation to have a child and postpartum depression symptoms. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74(10), 1808-1819.doi: 10.1002/jclp.22630