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Determinants of Pregnancy and Postpartum Depression: Prospective Influences of Depressive Symptoms, Body Image Satisfaction, and Exercise Behavior

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

Limited research has prospectively examined women’s exercise and psychological health behaviors before, during, and after pregnancy.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between and the extent to which depressive symptoms (DS), body image satisfaction (BIS), and exercise behavior (EB) prospectively explained trimester-specific and postpartum depression.

Methods

Participants (N = 230 pregnant women) completed self-reported measures midway through their first, second, and third trimesters and at 6-weeks postpartum from 2005 to 2007. Women were also classified based on current activity guidelines as active and somewhat active to examine the moderating influence of pre-pregnancy EB on the contributions of the study variables for explaining DS.

Results

We found that : (a) DS, BIS, and EB were associated across the three pregnancy time points and postpartum, (b) DS and BIS were main determinants of later depression in pregnancy and postpartum, and (c) the moderating influence of pre-pregnancy EB was evident in early pregnancy.

Conclusions

These preliminary findings suggest that DS and BIS are important psychological factors for intervention to improve women’s pregnancy and postpartum psychological health and that EB in the pre-pregnancy period may offer women protective effects against DS in early pregnancy.

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Notes

  1. Of the 950 women who were initially sent informational packets, the clinic estimates that about 25% of these women (N = 238) cancelled their appointment because they were either not actually pregnant (i.e., false positive) or miscarried before their appointment. Thus, the actual number of eligible pregnant women targeted for this study is more likely 40% of the clinic (N = 285/712).

  2. Hierarchical regression analyses were also conducted to examine the contributions of the first trimester variables for predicting third trimester and postpartum DS and the second trimester variables for predicting postpartum DS. Because the study findings yielded similar contributions of the variables for predicting DS, and for clarity of the study findings, only the four models are presented here.

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Acknowledgment

This research was funded by a faculty grant awarded to Dr. Downs from the Social Science Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University. The authors would like to thank the nurse and OBGYN staff and the participants themselves from Centre Medical and Surgical Associates, P.C., in State College, PA for their assistance with this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, 268Q Recreation Building, University Park, PA, 16802–5701, USA

    Danielle Symons Downs Ph.D., Jennifer M. DiNallo M.A. & Tiffany L. Kirner B.S.

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  1. Danielle Symons Downs Ph.D.
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  2. Jennifer M. DiNallo M.A.
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  3. Tiffany L. Kirner B.S.
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Correspondence to Danielle Symons Downs Ph.D..

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Downs, D.S., DiNallo, J.M. & Kirner, T.L. Determinants of Pregnancy and Postpartum Depression: Prospective Influences of Depressive Symptoms, Body Image Satisfaction, and Exercise Behavior. ann. behav. med. 36, 54–63 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-008-9044-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-008-9044-9

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