Myers Sarah, Emmott Emily H
UCL Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
BirthRites Independent Max Planck Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2021 May 11;12:648002. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648002. eCollection 2021.
Postnatal/postpartum depression (PND/PPD) had a pre-COVID-19 estimated prevalence ranging up to 23% in Europe, 33% in Australia, and 64% in America, and is detrimental to both mothers and their infants. Low social support is a key risk factor for developing PND. From an evolutionary perspective this is perhaps unsurprising, as humans evolved as cooperative childrearers, inherently reliant on social support to raise children. The coronavirus pandemic has created a situation in which support from social networks beyond the nuclear family is likely to be even more important to new mothers, as it poses risks and stresses for mothers to contend with; whilst at the same time, social distancing measures designed to limit transmission create unprecedented alterations to their access to such support. Using data from 162 mothers living in London with infants aged ≤6 months, we explore how communication with members of a mother's social network related to her experience of postnatal depressive symptoms during the first "lockdown" in England. Levels of depressive symptoms, as assessed via the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, were high, with 47.5% of the participants meeting a ≥11 cut-off for PND. Quasi-Poisson regression modelling found that the number of network members seen in-person, and remote communication with a higher proportion of those not seen, was negatively associated with depressive symptoms; however, contact with a higher proportion of relatives was positively associated with symptoms, suggesting kin risked seeing mothers in need. Thematic qualitative analysis of open text responses found that mothers experienced a burden of constant mothering, inadequacy of virtual contact, and sadness and worries about lost social opportunities, while support from partners facilitated family bonding. While Western childrearing norms focus on intensive parenting, and fathers are key caregivers, our results highlight that it still "takes a village" to raise children in high-income populations and mothers are struggling in its absence.
产后抑郁症（PND/PPD）在新冠疫情前的估计患病率在欧洲高达23%，在澳大利亚为33%，在美国为64%，对母亲及其婴儿都有不利影响。社会支持不足是患产后抑郁症的一个关键风险因素。从进化的角度来看，这或许并不奇怪，因为人类是作为合作育儿者进化而来的，本质上依赖社会支持来抚养孩子。新冠疫情造成了一种情况，即对于新妈妈来说，核心家庭之外的社交网络的支持可能变得更加重要，因为疫情给母亲们带来了需要应对的风险和压力；与此同时，旨在限制传播的社交距离措施对她们获得这种支持造成了前所未有的改变。我们使用来自伦敦162名有6个月及以下婴儿的母亲的数据，探讨在英国首次“封城”期间，母亲与社交网络成员的沟通如何与她的产后抑郁症状体验相关。通过爱丁堡产后抑郁量表评估的抑郁症状水平较高，47.5%的参与者产后抑郁症得分≥11分。准泊松回归模型发现，亲自见面的网络成员数量以及与较高比例未见面者的远程交流与抑郁症状呈负相关；然而，与较高比例亲属的联系与症状呈正相关，这表明亲属可能忽视了有需要的母亲。对开放式文本回复的主题定性分析发现，母亲们经历了持续育儿的负担、虚拟联系的不足以及对失去社交机会的悲伤和担忧，而伴侣的支持促进了家庭关系。虽然西方的育儿规范侧重于密集育儿，且父亲是主要照顾者，但我们的结果表明，在高收入人群中抚养孩子仍然“需要众人的帮助”，而母亲们在缺乏这种支持的情况下正苦苦挣扎。
