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Annals of Behavioral Medicine
Published in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine 6/2016

01-12-2016 | Original Article

Sleep Quality Predicts Persistence of Parental Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Transmission of Depressive Symptoms from Mothers to Fathers

Authors: Darby E. Saxbe, PhD, Christine Dunkel Schetter, PhD, Christine M. Guardino, PhD, Sharon L. Ramey, PhD, Madeleine U. Shalowitz, MD, John Thorp, MD, Maxine Vance, MS, RN, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Community Child Health Network

Published in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine | Issue 6/2016

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Abstract

Background

Early parenthood is a time of chronic sleep disturbance and also of heightened depression risk. Poor sleep quality has been identified both as a predictor of postpartum depressive symptoms and as a consequence.

Purpose

This study sought to clarify causal pathways linking sleep and postpartum depression via longitudinal path modeling. Sleep quality at 6 months postpartum was hypothesized to exacerbate depressive symptoms from 1 month through 1 year postpartum in both mothers and fathers. Within-couple associations between sleep and depression were also tested.

Methods

Data were drawn from a low-income, racially and ethnically diverse sample of 711 couples recruited after the birth of a child. Depressive symptoms were assessed at 1, 6, and 12 months postpartum, and sleep was assessed at 6 months postpartum.

Results

For both partnered mothers and fathers and for single mothers, depressive symptoms at 1 month postpartum predicted sleep quality at 6 months, which in turn predicted depressive symptoms at both 6 and 12 months. Results held when infant birth weight, breastfeeding status, and parents’ race/ethnicity, poverty, education, and immigration status were controlled. Mothers’ and fathers’ sleep quality and depressive symptoms were correlated, and maternal sleep quality predicted paternal depressive symptoms both at 6 and at 12 months.

Conclusions

Postpartum sleep difficulties may contribute to a vicious cycle between sleep and the persistence of depression after the birth of a child. Sleep problems may also contribute to the transmission of depression within a couple. Psychoeducation and behavioral treatments to improve sleep may benefit new parents.
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Metadata
Title
Sleep Quality Predicts Persistence of Parental Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Transmission of Depressive Symptoms from Mothers to Fathers
Authors
Darby E. Saxbe, PhD
Christine Dunkel Schetter, PhD
Christine M. Guardino, PhD
Sharon L. Ramey, PhD
Madeleine U. Shalowitz, MD
John Thorp, MD
Maxine Vance, MS, RN
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Community Child Health Network
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Annals of Behavioral Medicine / Issue 6/2016
Print ISSN: 0883-6612
Electronic ISSN: 1532-4796
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-016-9815-7

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