Asian Continental Ancestry Group/psychology* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depression, Postpartum/ethnology* ; Depression, Postpartum/nursing* ; Depression, Postpartum/psychology ; Depressive Disorder/ethnology ; Depressive Disorder/nursing ; Depressive Disorder/psychology ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; Humans ; Income ; Life Change Events ; Models, Psychological* ; Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data ; Pregnancy ; Psychometrics ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors ; Self Concept ; Social Support
Keywords
depression ; post-partum ; self concept (self-esteem) ; social support ; stressful events
Abstract
The objective of this study was to propose the post-partum blues (PPB) model and to estimate the effects of self-esteem, social support, antenatal depression, and stressful events during pregnancy on PPB. Data were collected from 249 women post-partum during their stay in the maternity units of three hospitals in Korea using a self-administered questionnaire. A structural equation modelling approach using the Analysis of Moments Structure program was used to identify the direct and indirect effects of the variables on PPB. The full model had a good fit and accounted for 70.3% of the variance of PPB. Antenatal depression and stressful events during pregnancy had strong direct effects on PPB. Household income showed indirect effects on PPB via self-esteem and antenatal depression. Social support indirectly affected PPB via self-esteem, antenatal depression, and stressful events during pregnancy.