Postpartum depression and child development: An investigation of mothers and fathers as sources of risk and resilience

Essay by GPHUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, February 2005

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Written for my "Child Development" class this paper is a journal review of an article dealing with postpartum depression of mother's and father's being a influence on child temperment. The "article" is fully cited in case one want to read it themselves. Enjoy...

Postpartum depression and child development: An investigation of mothers and fathers as sources of risk and resilience

Carro, M.G., Grant, K.E., Gotlib, I.H., and Compas, B.E., (1992). Postpartum

depression and child development: An investigation of mothers and fathers as sources or risk and resilience, Development and Psychopathology, 5, 566-579.

Reasons:

I chose this article because of my interest in the influences of outside forces on aspects of temperament and personality in infants. In fact the title of the article was enough to entrigue me into wanting to use this article for my report. I believe that a depressive environment can promote a depressed personality which in turn can influence temperament negatively and visa versa.

Summary of Study:

This participants of this study consisted of 70 mothers and fathers who were part of a larger longitudinal study investigating the development and consequences of depression during the postpartum period. The subjects of the larger study were "conveniently" recruited when they arrived for their first appointment with an obstetrician during pregnancy. From the larger study 130 mothers were "randomly" chosen and approached to participate in this study and of the 122 mother's who agreed 70 had husbands who also agreed. At the time the study began the mother's had a mean age of 28.97 years, (Standard Deviation = 3.68), with a mean of 14.48 years of education, (Standard Deviation = 2.17); father's had a mean age of 30.73 years, (Standard Deviation = 4.28), and a mean of 14.47 years of education, (Standard Deviation = 2.73).

The participant's depressive...