title: Attitudes toward motherhood in postnatal depression: development of the Maternal Attitudes Questionnaire.
abstract: This article describes the development of the Maternal Attitudes Questionnaire (MAQ), a 14-item self-report instrument measuring cognitions relating to role change, expectations of motherhood, and expectations of the self as a mother in postnatal women. This questionnaire was found to have good test-retest and internal reliability. In a large sample of women (n = 483) at 6-8 weeks postpartum, scores on the questionnaire were highly correlated with scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R). Cluster analysis demonstrated that, among depressed women with similar symptom scores on the CIS-R, the MAQ discriminated a group with low MAQ scores and a group with high MAQ scores. This finding supports the hypothesis that women who are depressed postnatally are cognitively heterogeneous; such differences may be important in understanding the etiology and determining the treatment of postnatal depression.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University of Manchester, Withington Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Warner
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Appleby
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Whitton
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Faragher
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001290:Attitude; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009035:Mothers / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D016896:Treatment Outcome