Department of Epidemiology, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
J Affect Disord. 2012 Feb;136(3):948-54. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2011.08.035. Epub 2011 Sep 17.
Postpartum depression (PPD) follows 5-15% of the life births and forms a major threat to the child's mental health and psychosocial development. However, the nature, continuance, and mediators of the association of postpartum depression (PPD) with the child's mental health are not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether an association between PPD and adolescent mental problems is explained by parental psychopathology and whether the association shows specificity to the internalizing or externalizing domain.
2729 adolescents aged 10-15 years from the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Life Survey (TRAILS) were included. Both PPD and parental lifetime history of psychopathology were assessed by parent report. Adolescents' psychopathology was assessed using the Achenbach scales (parent, teacher and self report). Linear regression was used to examine the association between PPD and adolescent mental health.
We found a statistically significant association of adolescents' internalizing problems with maternal PPD, which remained when adjusted for parental psychopathology. We found no association for externalizing problems.
Underreporting of both PPD and lifetime parental psychopathology may have occurred due to their retrospective assessment.
The association of PPD with internalizing but not externalizing problems extends into adolescence. Parental psychopathology does not explain this association suggesting a direct psychological effect on the child postpartum. If this effect appears causal, early treatment of parental psychopathology may prevent internalizing psychopathology in the offspring, ultimately in adolescence.
产后抑郁症（PPD）在 5-15%的产后生活中发生，对儿童的心理健康和心理社会发展构成重大威胁。然而，产后抑郁症（PPD）与儿童心理健康之间的关联的性质、持续性和中介因素尚不清楚。本研究旨在调查产后抑郁症（PPD）与青少年心理问题之间的关联是否可以通过父母的精神病理学来解释，以及这种关联是否具有特定的内化或外化领域。
共纳入了 2729 名年龄在 10-15 岁的青少年，他们来自青少年个人生活追踪调查（TRAILS）。PPD 和父母一生的精神病史均由父母报告进行评估。青少年的精神病理学采用 Achenbach 量表（父母、教师和自我报告）进行评估。线性回归用于检验 PPD 与青少年心理健康之间的关联。
我们发现青少年内化问题与母亲 PPD 之间存在统计学显著关联，调整父母精神病理学后仍然存在。我们没有发现外化问题的关联。
由于回顾性评估，可能存在 PPD 和父母一生精神病史的漏报。
PPD 与内化问题而非外化问题的关联延伸到青春期。父母的精神病理学并不能解释这种关联，这表明产后对儿童有直接的心理影响。如果这种影响是因果关系的，早期治疗父母的精神病理学可能会预防后代的内化心理病理学，最终在青春期。
