Psychophysiological ante-natal predictors of post-natal depressed mood.
Forty-seven women were studied during the course of pregnancy in an attempt to predict which of them would later rate themselves as suffering from depressed mood post-natally. Psychometric and physiology measures were used in the three trimesters of pregnancy and six weeks after birth. The psychometric measures used ante-natally and post-natally comprised the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire, and Locus of Control Scale, the DSSI/SAD sub-scale to measure anxiety, and the Zung Self-Rating Scale to measure depression. Psychophysiological measures used water heart-rate and blood pressure. Post-natal ratings of depression were associated with a high ante-natal score on overall hostility. Women with high anxiety and hostility ratings had a more pronounced response to the sound of a baby crying than to noise of similar frequency and intensity. This more pronounced heart response was also related to later post-natal depression ratings. However, by far the most useful predictive measure was the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire: its predictive power in the first trimester of pregnancy was almost as good as in the third trimester.
D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D003448:Crying; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D009622:Noise; D011247:Pregnancy; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*