[Depressive symptoms and parental stress in Icelandic mothers with difficult infants: a national survey.]

Postnatal depressive symptoms can lead to considerable problems for women and their families. To estimate their prevalence and relation of such symptoms to parental stress, infant difficulty and demographic characteristics a cross-sectional national survey was conducted at two to three months postpartum. Internal consistency of the Icelandic versions of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the Parent Stress Index / Short Form and their concurrent validity was also tested.

A sample of all Icelandic women who gave birth during a quarter of the year 1992 and had a live baby two months later was selected from National Register (N=1054). The following questionnaires were mailed two months postpartum: Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Pa notrent Stress Index/ Short Form, Infant Difficulty Index and a list of questions on demographic characteristics.

Internal consistency and concurrent validity of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the Parent Stress Index were confirmed. The mean for depressive symptoms as assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was 6.5. Of the women 14% experienced frequent and severe symptoms (score >12). Depressive symptoms correlated with maternal role distress (p<0.01). Significant differences in frequency of depressive symptoms were noted between women in relation to infant difficulty (p<0.0001), maternal worries about health of the baby (p<0.0001), poor maternal education (p<0.005) and single parenthood (p<0.002).

The prevalence of depressive symptoms in Icelandic women postpartum is comparable to rates found in other Western countries and appears to be related to parental stress, infant difficulties and maternal social status.