Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown Navy Yard, 120 2nd Ave, Charlestown, 02129, MA, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Arch Womens Ment Health. 2021 Apr;24(2):313-320. doi: 10.1007/s00737-020-01053-9. Epub 2020 Jul 23.
Although maternal postpartum mental health has been extensively studied, rather little is known regarding the factors that may facilitate psychological growth following childbirth. The present study set forth to examine various pre-birth, birth, and post-birth correlates of overall psychological growth and growth domains in postpartum women, assessed within the first months following childbirth. A sample of 428 women completed self-report measures pertaining to psychological growth, mental health, maternal attachment, and childbirth characteristics. We found that the majority of women reported psychological growth following childbirth, with those experiencing stressors in childbirth reporting the highest levels of appreciation for life. In regression analyses, postpartum factors were significantly associated with overall growth and growth domains, taking into account other factors. The more the childbirth was perceived as central to the mothers' identity and the better the maternal attachment was to the child, the higher levels of growth. Growth was also negatively related to endorsement of childbirth PTSD. Background factors, such as maternal age, education, and prior mental health, were associated with specific growth domains, although the association was small and there was no association with overall growth. Post-birth factors are important in ensuing psychological growth in the first months following birth. Attention to opportunities of growth following childbirth is warranted in clinical care, in particular following traumatic childbirth.
尽管已经广泛研究了产妇产后的心理健康问题，但对于可能促进产后心理成长的因素却知之甚少。本研究旨在探讨分娩前后与产后女性整体心理成长和成长领域相关的各种因素，这些因素是在分娩后最初几个月内评估的。428 名女性完成了与心理成长、心理健康、母婴依恋和分娩特征相关的自我报告测量。我们发现，大多数女性在分娩后报告了心理成长，那些在分娩中经历压力的人对生活的欣赏程度最高。在回归分析中，考虑到其他因素，产后因素与整体成长和成长领域显著相关。分娩被母亲视为身份核心的程度越高，对孩子的母婴依恋越好，成长水平越高。成长也与产后创伤后应激障碍的认同呈负相关。背景因素，如母亲的年龄、教育程度和先前的心理健康状况，与特定的成长领域相关，尽管关联较小，且与整体成长无关。产后因素对出生后最初几个月的心理成长很重要。在临床护理中，特别是在创伤性分娩后，需要关注分娩后成长的机会。
