Factors influencing maternal depression: Secondary data analysis

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify association between maternal depression and multiple contextual factors in 1,519 mothers in Korea who participated in the 2009 Panel Study of Korean Children (PSKC). Methods: The second wave data which was a comprehensive longitudinal data set with a nationally representative birth cohort was analyzed using SAS 9.3 software. Kessler depression scale was used for this study. Results: Of the mothers, 23.0% reported being mild to moderate depression and 4.5% of the mothers reported severe depression. The factors influencing maternal depression include; mother's self-efficacy, mother's marital conflict, mother's social support, infant's and toddler's emotionality, mother's smoking and infant's feeding & eating of daily routine. These variables explained 39.5% of maternal depression. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the identified factors for maternal depression should be included in an intervention program to reduce the risk of depression.