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Published on: June 10, 2013
Spouses' prenatal autonomous motivation to have a child and postpartum depression symptoms
Nachoum Reut1, Yaniv Kanat-Maymon1
1Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel.
Objectives:
Maternal postpartum depression symptoms (PDS) are linked with negative personal, family, and child developmental outcomes. However, paternal PDS, let alone dyadic process, are understudied. Grounded in the Self-Determination Theory of motivation, this longitudinal study examined whether mothers' and fathers' type of prenatal motivation to have a child predicted depression symptoms 3-6 months after birth.
Method:
The data (N = 90 heterosexual couples) were analyzed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model.
Results:
Dyadic analyses showed that a person's prenatal autonomous motivation to have a child significantly predicted own PDS and partner's PDS. Importantly, these finding were equivalent across genders.
Conclusions:
The findings highlight the importance of dyadic prenatal motivational processes as antecedents of PDS.
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