Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Feb 19, 2023; 13(2): 50-59
Published online Feb 19, 2023. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i2.50
Relationship between family cohesion/adaptability and postpartum depressive symptoms: A single-center retrospective study
Guo-Rong Zhang, Peng-Sheng Li, Yan-Bin Jia
Guo-Rong Zhang, Yan-Bin Jia, Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China
Peng-Sheng Li, Department of Women’s Healthcare, Affiliated Foshan Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital, Southern Medical University, Foshan 528000, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang GR contributed to the study conception and design, drafting manuscript, data analysis and interpretation; Li PS contributed to the study conception, critical revision of article for important intellectual content; Jia YB contributed to the study conception and design, critical revision of article for important intellectual content.
Supported by Foundation of Bureau of Science and Technology of Foshan City, No. 2020001005566.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Affiliated Maternal & Child Health Hospital of Foshan, Southern Medical University (Approval No. FSFY-MEC-2021-029).
Informed consent statement: This is a retrospective study that used anonymous clinical data. According to institutional policies, informed consent was not required from patients in this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: The data for this study can be obtained from the corresponding author upon request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yan-Bin Jia, MD, Chief Doctor, Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Jinan University, No. 613 Huangpu Avenue West, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China. jiayanbin1985@163.com
Received: November 28, 2022
Peer-review started: November 28, 2022
First decision: December 20, 2022
Revised: December 30, 2022
Accepted: January 19, 2023
Article in press: January 19, 2023
Published online: February 19, 2023
Processing time: 81 Days and 0.2 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Postpartum depression is the most common mental illness of mothers after childbirth, and the family environment is an important environmental factor affecting postpartum depression. Olson's theory of family cohesion and adaptability is a classic model to describe the level of family function. However, this model has not been tested in families of patients with postpartum depression.

Research motivation

The main focus was to explore the relationship between family cohesion/adaptability and postpartum depression symptoms. The key problem to be solved was how to investigate family cohesion and adaptability and postpartum depression symptoms and how to study the relationship between them. This research has great significance for future explorations into reducing the risk of postpartum depression.

Research objectives

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between family cohesion and adaptability and the risk of postpartum depressive symptoms.

Research methods

The clinical data of 1446 postpartum women with and without depressive symptoms were analyzed retrospectively. The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale and the Chinese version of the Family Cohesion and Adaptability Scale II were used to evaluate depressive symptoms and family cohesion, respectively. Univariate regression analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between family cohesion and postpartum depression symptoms.

Research results

The prevalence of depression in postpartum women was 31.4%, and the family cohesion scores of this population were low. Univariate regression analysis showed that the risk of postpartum depression in detached and separated families was higher than that in connected families, while cohesion was a protective factor for postpartum depression. In addition, rigid and structured families had a higher risk of postpartum depression than flexible families, while chaotic families could prevent postpartum depression.

Research conclusions

This study showed that the prevalence of depression in postpartum women was 31.4%, and the family cohesion scores of this group were low. The higher the scores of family cohesion and adaptability, the lower the risk of postpartum depressive symptoms. Disordered families and cohesive families can prevent postpartum depression.

Research perspectives

Future research should investigate differences in family cohesion and adaptability in different types of families and their influence on postpartum depression according to the age, education, and the annual income of postpartum women.