The Functions of Postpartum Depression

Study

Ethnic groups

Sample size

Correlates and other findings

Areias, Kumar,
Barros, &
Figueiredo 1996

Oporto, Portugal

Longitudinal study of 54
women and 42 husbands

Women: reduced social support, prior
history, prior history of husband.
Husbands: Low social class, poor social
adjustment, PPD in wife. High
prevalence rates compared to similar
studies in the US and England.

Cox 1983

Ugandan and
Scottish women

183 of 263 pregnant, rural
Ugandan women were
assessed postpartum

Some differences in symptom profiles

Ghubash & Abou-
Saleh 1997

United Arab
Emirates

Prepartum marital problems,
postpartum marital problems, unwanted
pregnancy, unwanted baby, baby’s
health, life events, lack of social
support (e.g., housemaid), and previous
psychiatric history predict PPD

Harkness 1987

Rural Kipsigis,
Kenya

Sample size = 10

No PPD (probably due to low sample
size)

Ifabumuyi &
Akindele 1985

Northern Nigeria

Review of 50 cases of
psychiatric disturbance

Jinadu & Daramola
1990

Yoruba in
Nigeria

400 prepartum, 348
postpartum

Very high rates of complaints
prepartum; lower rates postpartum.

Park & Dimigen
1995

Korean
immigrants to
Scotland

105 Korean mothers and

52 Scottish mothers

Higher rates of PPD among the
Koreans; higher rates of somatic
complaints among the Koreans; equal
rates of psychological complaints.

Shimizu & Kaplan
1987

Japan and the US

29 Japanese; 21
Americans

Social isolation predicts PPD for
Americans but not Japanese. Only
traditional role concept predicts PPD
for Japanese women.

Stewart &

Jambunathan 1996

Hmong
immigrants to the
US

52 Hmong women from
northeastern and central
Wisconsin

Symptoms look very similiar to PPD,
despite authors’ protestations to the
contrary

Thorpe, Dragonas,
and Golding 1992

Britian and
Greece

65 Greek; 101 British

Social support and life events both
correlate with PPD

Upadhyaya, Creed,
Upadhyaya 1989

Asian immigrants
to England

75 Asian subjects; 75
English subjects

No difference in relative proportion of
somatic vs. psychological symptoms
between the two groups. Same 4 SRQ
items predict case status for both
groups (2 somatic; 2 psychological).

Watson & Evans
1986

Bengali
immigrants to
England

28 Bengali immigrants, 24
English speaking non-
Bengali immigrants, 49
indigenous English

Objective measure of PPD appears to
agree with both the interviewer’s
subjective opinion and the mother’s
self-assessment for all three groups.

Yoshida, et al. 1997

Japanese
immigrants to

England

98 mothers at 3 months
postpartum

Stressful life events, & obstetric
difficulty but without grandmothers'
support predict PPD