Dimensions of depressive symptomatology in mothers derived from factor analyses

Subtypes of depression have been under studied in women during the peripartum period and the year after childbirth and delivery. Due to heterogeneity of depression, researchers have attempted to identify phenotypes of maternal and postpartum depression based on key symptoms that may represent underlying genes and biological etiology (Leuchter et al. Dialog Clinic Neurosci 16(4):525, 2014).

The current study collected self-report data from 587 women and utilized exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) to identify subtypes of depression symptoms across two measures.

Findings of the study showed that: (1) using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS), a five-factor solution best fit the data in our sample of mothers with infants aged 4-14 months. The factors included: anxiety/thought disorder; cognitive depression; suicide; somatic/neurovegetative; and sleep [χ² (454, N = 587) = 1102.61, p < 0.001, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.93, Tucker Lewis index (TLI) = 0.92, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.05]; and (2) the following factors significantly positively predicted interview-based diagnosis of depression: cognitive symptoms of depression and sleep [χ² (482, N = 587) = 1170.40, p < 0.001, TLI = 0.91, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.05].

Future research could assess the clinical benefits of screening for maternal mood disorders.