Chang Christine Y, Liu Sabrina R, Glynn Laura M
Department of Psychology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA.
Department of Human Development, California State University, San Marcos, San Marcos, CA, USA.
Arch Womens Ment Health. 2023 Sep 22. doi: 10.1007/s00737-023-01374-5.
The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental leave length and maternal depressive symptoms at six- and twelve-months postpartum and whether this relation was influenced by women's attitudes towards leave, whether leave was paid or unpaid, and the reason they returned to work. The sample included 115 working women recruited during pregnancy as part of a larger longitudinal study. Analyses revealed that maternal attitudes toward leave influenced the association between leave length and depressive symptoms. Specifically, longer leaves were associated with increased depressive symptoms for women who missed their previous activities at work. Furthermore, women who missed work and had leave for 16 weeks or more, exhibited higher depressive symptoms at six- and twelve-months. Last, results also indicated that women who returned to work solely for monetary reasons exhibited more depressive symptoms at six-months postpartum than those who returned to work for other reasons. This study is among the first to show that women's attitudes towards parental leave and their individual reasons for returning to work are important factors to consider that may have potential implications for parental leave policies.
本研究旨在调查产后六个月和十二个月时育儿假时长与母亲抑郁症状之间的关系，以及这种关系是否受到女性对休假的态度、休假是否带薪以及她们重返工作岗位的原因的影响。样本包括115名在孕期招募的职业女性，这是一项更大规模纵向研究的一部分。分析表明，母亲对休假的态度影响了休假时长与抑郁症状之间的关联。具体而言，对于那些怀念以前工作活动的女性来说，更长的假期与抑郁症状增加有关。此外，那些怀念工作且休假16周或更长时间的女性，在产后六个月和十二个月时表现出更高的抑郁症状。最后，结果还表明，仅因经济原因重返工作岗位的女性在产后六个月时比因其他原因重返工作岗位的女性表现出更多的抑郁症状。这项研究是首批表明女性对育儿假的态度及其重返工作岗位的个人原因是需要考虑的重要因素，可能对育儿假政策有潜在影响的研究之一。
