Relationship between personality and postpartum depression in Spanish pregnant

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of personality factors in postnatal depression. A prospective ex post facto design was carried out. The sample consisted of 116 women, recruited in their first trimester of pregnancy and followed up until four months postpartum. The instruments used were the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) to assess postpartum depression and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) to analyze personality traits. Socio-demographic variables (age, parity, educational level, employment status, and planning of pregnancy) and clinical variables (neonatal Apgar score and mode of delivery) were also taken into account. We performed a regression analysis observing that neuroticism was the only factor that predicted depressive symptoms, explaining 23.8% of the variance. We found no interaction effect of sociodemographic or clinical variables. Neuroticism significantly influences psychological health, in life events such as motherhood. Due to its stable condition, personality could be assessed from the beginning of pregnancy, contributing to the care of pregnant women with high scores in neuroticism, to prevent, detect and treat early postnatal depression.