Author:

Keywords:

postpartum depression, anxiety, personality, experiences questionnaire, dependency factor, vulnerability, sociotropy, autonomy, motherhood, transition, pregnancy, criticism, Social Sciences, Psychology, Social, Psychology, DEPENDENCY FACTOR, VULNERABILITY, PERSONALITY, EXPERIENCES, SOCIOTROPY, AUTONOMY, TRANSITION, CRITICISM, 1701 Psychology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, Social Psychology, 5202 Biological psychology, 5205 Social and personality psychology

Abstract:

This study investigated the role of adaptive and maladaptive personality dimensions associated with self-definition and relatedness as measured by the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ; Blatt, D'Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976) in a sample of 244 young mothers. It was hypothesized that only maladaptive personality dimensions related to self-definition and relatedness (i.e., Self-Critical Perfectionism and Dependency), but not adaptive dimensions (i.e., Efficacy and Relatedness), would be associated with severity of depression and anxiety in the postpartum period. In addition, it was hypothesized that Dependency would be more strongly associated with anxiety symptoms, while Self-Critical Perfectionism was expected to be more strongly related to severity of depression.