Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Centre for Women's and Children's Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
J Affect Disord. 2024 Sep 1;360:198-205. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.05.104. Epub 2024 May 22.
Low social support has been identified as a risk factor for perinatal mental health problems. However, previous studies mainly focused on partner support or general social support and neglected the roles of grandparents. Here, we examine whether a lack of grandparental support is related to increased risk of a diagnosis of perinatal depression. In addition, we examine whether poor grandparental support is related to more depressive symptoms in mothers with and without previously diagnosed perinatal depression and whether perceived grandparental support buffers against parenting difficulties in mothers with perinatal depression.
The sample was drawn from an Australian pregnancy cohort study and consisted of 725 women, including 230 women who met criteria for Major Depression. At 12 months postpartum, women reported on grandparental geographical proximity and hours of grandparental childcare support. Perceived grandparental support was assessed with the Postpartum Social Support Questionnaire and parenting difficulties and depressive symptoms with the Parenting Stress Index and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.
Perceived grandparental support was related to fewer depressive symptoms among mothers with perinatal depression. In addition, higher levels of perceived grandparental support were related to lower parenting stress in mothers with and without perinatal depression.
Intergenerational conflicts and quality of grandparenting were not assessed.
Our findings indicate that supportive grandparents may prevent the development of more severe perinatal depression in mothers experiencing perinatal mental health problems. Future studies should examine whether involving grandparents in treatment may add to the effectiveness of existing perinatal mental health interventions.
低社会支持被认为是围产期心理健康问题的一个风险因素。然而，以前的研究主要集中在伴侣支持或一般社会支持上，而忽视了祖父母的作用。在这里，我们研究缺乏祖父母支持是否与增加围产期抑郁症诊断的风险有关。此外，我们还研究了较差的祖父母支持是否与有和没有以前诊断过围产期抑郁症的母亲的更多抑郁症状有关，以及感知到的祖父母支持是否能缓冲围产期抑郁症母亲的育儿困难。
该样本来自澳大利亚妊娠队列研究，包括 725 名女性，其中 230 名女性符合重度抑郁症的标准。在产后 12 个月，女性报告了与祖父母的地理距离和祖父母照顾孩子的时间。感知到的祖父母支持用产后社会支持问卷评估，育儿困难和抑郁症状用父母压力指数和爱丁堡产后抑郁量表评估。
感知到的祖父母支持与围产期抑郁症母亲的抑郁症状较少有关。此外，较高水平的感知到的祖父母支持与有和没有围产期抑郁症的母亲的育儿压力较低有关。
没有评估代际冲突和祖辈育儿的质量。
我们的研究结果表明，支持性的祖父母可能会预防经历围产期心理健康问题的母亲发展更严重的围产期抑郁症。未来的研究应该研究是否让祖父母参与治疗可能会增加现有的围产期心理健康干预措施的有效性。
