title: A Biopsychosocial Conceptual Framework of Postpartum Depression Risk in Immigrant and U.S.-born Latina Mothers in the United States.
abstract: In this review, we offer a conceptual framework that identifies risk factors of postpartum depression (PPD) in immigrant and U.S.-born Latinas in the United States by focusing on psychosocial and neuroendocrine factors. Although the evidence of the impact psychosocial stressors have on the development of PPD has been well-documented, less is known about the biological etiology of PPD or how these complex stressors jointly increase the risk of PPD in immigrant and U.S.-born Latinas in the United States.
  
  
  
  Using PubMed, CINAHL, and Embase, we reviewed the literature from 2000 to 2015 regarding psychosocial and physiological risk factors associated with PPD to develop a conceptual model for Latinas.
  
  
  
  Our search yielded 16 relevant studies. Based on our review of the literature, we developed a biopsychosocial conceptual model of PPD for Latinas in the United States. We make arguments for an integrated model designed to assess psychosocial and physiological risk factors and PPD in a high-risk population. Our framework describes the hypothesized associations between culturally and contextually relevant psychosocial stressors, neurobiological factors (e.g., hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis response system and oxytocin signaling), and PPD in Latinas in the United States.
  
  
  
  Future studies should evaluate prospectively the impact psychosocial stressors identified here have on the development of PPD in both immigrant and U.S-born Latinas while examining neuroendocrine function, such as the HPA axis and oxytocin signaling. Our conceptual framework will allow for the reporting of main and indirect effects of psychosocial risk factors and biomarkers (e.g., HPA axis and oxytocin function) on PPD in foreign- and U.S.-born postpartum Latinas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois. Electronic address: laracini@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Sandraluz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lara-Cinisomo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Susan S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Girdler
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Grewen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meltzer-Brody
mesh_terms: D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States