Postpartum Depression in Adolescent Mothers

This presentation is part of : Family Health Strategies

Mikki Meadows-Oliver, MSN, MPH, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Specialty, Yale University School of Nursing, New Haven, CT, USA and Vanessa Reid, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.

Method: CINAHL, Medline, and PsycInfo were use to locate articles. The review was conducted using the Matrix Method (Garrard, 1999).

Results: Twelve research articles were included in the review. The studies were published between 1990-2005. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Centers for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The rates of depression among the adolescent mothers during the first year postpartum ranged from 9%-56%. Demographic characteristics such as age, race, and economic status were shown not to be significantly correlated with adolescent mothers’ depressive symptoms. Social support and self-esteem were negatively correlated with depressive symptoms, as was maternal confidence. Loneliness and life stressors were positively correlated with depressive symptoms. Adolescent mothers with depressive symptoms were more likely to have negative feeding and play interactions with their infants. Their children were also shown to have behavioral problems during the preschool years. Infants of mothers displaying depressive symptoms during the first year postpartum were more likely to have slowed physical growth related to weight, height, and head circumference.

Conclusions: The rates of depressive symptoms during the first year postpartum in adolescent mothers varied widely among the studies, perhaps due to different sampling techniques and study designs. As a part of a multi-disciplinary team, nurses can plan interventions to foster social supports and self-esteem in adolescent mothers with depressive symptoms. Adolescent mothers should be screened for depression regardless of socio-demographic characteristics. Screening is the first step in the early identification of depression in adolescent mothers. Nurses can provide comprehensive screening for depression and referrals for treatment in an effort to prevent adverse consequences such as poor maternal-infant interactions for adolescent mothers and their children.

Learning Objective #1: discuss unique factors associated with postpartum depression in adolescent mothers.
Learning Objective #2: identify appropriate depression screening tools for use with adolescent mothers.