title: Trajectories of maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety over 13 years: the influence of stress, social support, and maternal temperament.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Depression and anxiety are the most common mental health problems among women, with various negative impacts both for the women concerned and their families. Greater understanding of developmental trajectories of maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety over the child rearing period would have significant benefits for public health, informing prevention and treatment approaches. The aim of the current study was to examine whether stressors related to child rearing and living conditions, social support, and maternal temperament, predicted mothers' membership in groups with different trajectories of symptoms of depression and anxiety during 13 years of the child rearing phase.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data were from a prospective, longitudinal study of 913 mothers in Norway followed from when their children were 18 months old (time 1) until they were 14.5 years (time 6) (the TOPP study). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to test whether child related stressors, stressors related to the living conditions, social support and maternal temperament at time 1 predicted membership in groups based on maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety over the subsequent 13 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Temperamental distress, followed by child related stressors, were the strongest predictors of membership in a group with high symptoms of depression and anxiety over time. Stressors related to living conditions, and social support from partner and friends/family were also significant predictors. No interaction effects among predictors were found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicates that factors present early in the child rearing phase may provide substantial prediction of the variance in maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety over the following 13 years. Temperamental distress and child related stressors were the strongest predictors of membership in different depression and anxiety symptom trajectory groups.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Division of Mental Health, PO Box 4404, Nydalen, Oslo 0403, Norway. anni@fhi.no
authors.forename: Anni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skipstein
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Janson
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kjeldsen
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nilsen
authors.forename: Kristin S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Mathiesen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D013694:Temperament; D013997:Time Factors