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The European Journal of Public Health 2003 13(3):218-225; doi:10.1093/eurpub/13.3.218
© 2003 by European Journal of Public Health
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Health Patterns and Determinants

Psychological distress one year after childbirth

A cross-cultural comparison between France, Italy and Quebec

Catherine Des Rivières-Pigeon1, Marie-Josèphe Saurel-Cubizolles1,* and Patrizia Romito2

1 Unit 149, INSERM, Villejuif, France 2 Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Trieste, Italy

Background: The aim of this study was to compare rates of psychological distress, one year after childbirth, between women living in France, Italy and Quebec (Canada). Methods: Analysis was performed for a sample of 1663 mothers of one-year-old children. Psychological distress rates, measured by the General Health Questionnaire and a measure of psychotropic drug use, were compared in bivariate and multivariate analysis. Results: According to the GHQ scores, the psychological distress rate was significantly higher in Quebec (16% scoring over 5) than in France (11%) and Italy (9%). Differences between countries were most marked for women with a low level of education, who were more distressed in Quebec than elsewhere. However, psychotropic drug use was significantly more common in France than in Italy and Quebec. When the two indicators of psychological distress were combined (high GHQ score or use of psychotropic drugs), France and Quebec presented similar distress rates, both significantly different from Italy. Conclusion: Differences in the expression of distress may partly account for the observed differences in distress rate between countries. However, the social structure of each country probably plays a role in the development of psychological distress, possibly leading to differences in distress rate between countries.

Keywords: cross-cultural comparisons, postpartum psychological distress, women's mental health

Received 24 July 2001. Accepted 22 May 2002.

* Correspondence: Marie-Josèphe Saurel-Cubizolles, PhD, INSERM Unité 149, 16 avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier, 94807 Villejuif cedex, France, tel. +33 (1) 45 59 50 91, fax +33 (1) 45 59 50 89, e-mail: saurel{at}vjf.inserm.fr


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