title: Turning the pink cloud grey: dampening of positive affect predicts postpartum depressive symptoms.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Maladaptive response styles to negative affect have been shown to be associated with prospective (postpartum) depression. Whether maladaptive styles to positive affect are also critically involved is understudied, even though anhedonia (a correlate of low positive affectivity) is a cardinal symptom of depression. The present study is the first to investigate the predictive value of cognitive response styles to both negative (depressive rumination) and positive affect (dampening) for postpartum depressive symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  During the third trimester of pregnancy, 210 women completed self-report instruments assessing depression (symptom severity and current and/or past episodes) and scales gauging the presence of depressive rumination and dampening. Of these women, 187 were retained for postpartum follow-up, with depressive symptoms being reassessed at 12 (n=171) and 24 (n=176) weeks after delivery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regression analyses showed that higher levels of dampening of positive affect during pregnancy predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms at 12 and 24 weeks postpartum, irrespective of initial symptom severity, past history of depression and levels of rumination to negative affect. Prepartum trait levels of rumination, however, did not predict postpartum symptomatology when controlled for baseline symptoms and history of major depressive episode(s).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this investigation suggest that the way women cognitively respond to positive affect contributes perhaps even more to the development of postpartum depression than maladaptive response styles to negative affect.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: filip.raes@ppw.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Raes
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, Belgium; Department of Applied Psychology, Thomas More University College, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jorien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smets
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ineke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wessel
authors.affiliation: University Department of Psychiatry, Campus Antwerp University Hospital, Antwerp University, Belgium; Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antwerp University, Belgium.
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Van Den Eede
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nelis
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Antwerp University, Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Health Care, Karel de Grote University College, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Franck
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Fertility, Antwerp University Hospital, Belgium; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Antwerp University, Belgium.
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jacquemyn
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Belgium; Faculty of Medicine, Department of Development and Regeneration, University of Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hanssens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D059445:Anhedonia; D003071:Cognition; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D012044:Regression Analysis; D057566:Self Report; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anhedonia; Dampening; Depression; Positive affect; Postpartum depression; Rumination