© 1999 by European Journal of Public Health
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH |
Psychological distress of new Spanish mothers
VICENTA ESCRIBÀ, ROSA MÁS, ATRIZIA ROMITO and MARIE JOSEPH SAUREL-CUBIZOLLES
The Valencian Institute of Studies in Public Health (IVESP), Regional Ministry of Health, Generalitat Valenciana Valencia, Spain
Department of Psychology, University of Tneste, and IRCCS Burlo Garofolo Trieste, Italy
INSERM Unit 149 Paris, France
Correspondence: Vicenta Escribà, MD PhD, IVESP, C/Juan de Garay, 21, 46017 Valencia, Spain, tel./fax +34 6 3869369/3869370, e-mail: vescriba{at}san.gva.es
Background: The birth of a child usually brings about important changes in the life of women and many mothers experience psychological distress at this time. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of social factors and living conditions on new mothers' psychological distress one year after childbirth. In particular, sociodemographic characteristics of the mother, job characteristics, quality of marital life, perinatal factors and the baby's health were considered. Methods: The study population were primiparous or secundiparous women who had a child in the main regional public hospital of Valencia (Spain) and who had performed paid work during pregnancy. Information was collected by means of a questionnaire sent by post one year after childbirth. For hundred and ninety-eight women were included in the data analysis after excluding 30 women who revealed previous psychiatric history. The outcome variable (psychological distress of mothers one year after childbirth) was assessed using the 12 item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The explanatory variables were variables related to characteristics of marital life, the baby's health, job conditions, perinatal conditions and sociodemographic characteristics of the mother. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted. Results: The percentage of cases with a GHQ-12 score higher than 3 was 29.7. The probability of psychological distress of mothers one year after childbirth was higher among those women who reported that the relationship with their partner was fair/poor/very poor (adjusted OR 5.2 and 95% CI: 2.5–10.7), among those who argued with their partner over the shareout of domestic chores and childcare (adjusted OR 2.6 and 95% Cl: 1.6–4.2), among those whose child had been sick over the past year (adjusted OR 1.9 and 95% CI: 1.1–3.5) and among those who had important financial problems (adjusted OR 2.2 and 95% CI: 1.3–3.7). No statistically significant association was found with factors related to perinatal conditions and job conditions. Conclusions: The psychological distress of mothers during the first year of life of their child is related to quality of marital life, the child's health and the existence of important financial problems.
Keywords: baby's health, job conditions, marital factors, new mothers, perinatal factors, psychological distress