title: Partner support and postpartum depressive symptoms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  One out of eight women suffers an episode of depression following delivery. We explored the role of expectations of partner support in postpartum depressive symptoms in new mothers attending a regional public hospital in Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy women participated in a two-stage (third trimester and 3 months postpartum) prospective study using self-report measures. At stage 1, they completed the Support Expectations Index to measure expectations for partner support and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale to measure conflicts in marital relationship, whereas socio-demographic (i.e. maternal age and education level) and clinical variables (i.e. previous miscarriages and depression episodes) were collected from medical reports. Depressive symptoms were evaluated at stage 2 with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale using a cut-off >9 and confirmation of marital support expectations was measured with the Expectancy Confirmation Scale. Stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to examine predictors of depressive symptoms at 3 months postpartum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As many as 55.7% (n = 39) of new mothers presented postpartum depressive symptoms, which were predicted by low expectancy confirmation concerning partner support [odds ratio (OR) 3.02; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-8.10]. Therefore, clinicians should consider the possible role of partner support when treating women with postnatal depressive symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gremigni
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marracino
authors.forename: Andrea Luigi
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Tranquilli
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turi
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology