Interpersonal Relationships Among Black Couples and Depressive Symptoms During Pregnancy.
Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, Dawn P Misra, William B Rogers and 2 others
PMID 29965822WHAT IT FOUND
Black expectant mothers and fathers had similar rates of clinically relevant depressive symptoms.
More partner conflict and less social support were linked to more symptoms in both parents.
Key findings
01Mothers and fathers had similar rates of clinically relevant depressive symptoms: 54% of mothers and 38% of fathers had CES-D scores of 16 or higher, and 24.0% of mothers and 16.0% of fathers had scores of 23 or higher.
02For both parents, more partner conflict was linked to more depressive symptoms, and more social support was linked to fewer depressive symptoms.
03Partners' depressive symptom scores were not closely associated within couples.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study measured associations at one time, so it cannot show that conflict or low support caused depression, or that changing them would help. Only 50 couples were studied, and most families had household income under $30,000, so results may not apply to other races, ages, or higher-income couples. CES-D self-report indicates symptom levels but cannot diagnose depression. The analysis did not adjust for socioeconomic status or other possible confounders because the sample was small. Mothers and fathers reported different rates of being married or living together, which may reflect inconsistent relationship reporting.
Declared interests
The paper reports no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that screening fathers or reducing conflict will prevent prenatal depression. This was a cross-sectional association study, not a treatment trial.