Moms with strong family support less likely to have postpartum depression
Ethnicity, socioeconomic not factors
Women who have strong support from their families during pregnancy appear to be less likely to experience depression after giving birth, according to a UCLA study published today.
“Our results, and those of other scientists, suggest that low or absent support is a significant risk factor for postpartum depression and that strong support is a protective factor,” said Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, lead author of the research.
Hahn-Holbrook, a UCLA National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral scholar in psychology and a fellow at UCLA’s Institute of Society and Genetics, said the research involved 210 pregnant women of different ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds, who were surveyed three times during pregnancy—at 19, 29 and 37 weeks—and then eight weeks after giving birth.
The women were asked in interviews about how much support they received from their families and the child’s father and about their symptoms of depression.
In addition, blood samples from all participants were analyzed to assess their levels of placental corticotropin-releasing hormone—pCRH—a stress hormone released from the placenta.
After taking into account factors such as age, education and income, Hahn-Holbrook and her colleagues discovered that pregnant women who reported the greatest support from their families had lower levels of depressive symptoms. They also had the least dramatic increases in pCRH and the lowest absolute levels of pCRH in the third trimester of pregnancy.
“Now we have some clue as to how support might 'get under the skin’ in pregnancy, dampening down a mother’s stress hormone and thereby helping to reduce her risk for postpartum depression,” Hahn-Holbrook said.
The study was published in the online edition of the journal Clinical Psychological Science.
With National Minority Health Month quickly approaching, a local organization confronts the Black infant mortality rate—a decades old problem—by empowering one college-educated woman at a time.
On behalf of iDream for Racial Health Equity, a project of Community Partners, applications for the iDream Millennial Leadership Program are now open.
Loose lips sink ships, or in the case of Republican Congressman and aspiring Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akins, political careers.
Akins was on track to help the GOP recapture the senate before his comments on rape aired Sunday. “From what I understand from doctors ... if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down (getting pregnant).”
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Doctors with a majority Latino practice believe that physicians treating mostly White patients provide better care, according to a UCLA study released today.
The perception is apparently due to the doctors’ belief that they spend an inadequate amount of time with Latino patients; that Latinos are unable to afford proper care; and the patients frequently ignore recommended treatments.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Black youth report considerable pressure to have sex, according to a new survey of 1,500 Black youth ages 13-21 released by ESSENCE Magazine and The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Of those who have had sex, 47% of those 13-21 (including 21% of those 13-15) say they have been pressured to go further sexually than they wanted to. The groundbreaking results are featured in the October issue of ESSENCE magazine.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The part of the human brain that controls the sleep/wake cycle begins to decline by middle age, perhaps explaining why some older people have difficulty sleeping and adjusting to time changes, according to a UCLA study released today.
“Aging has a profound effect on circadian timing," said the study's senior author, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and of physiological science.
