Childhood adversities and depression: II. Parental loss, rearing, and symptom profile of antenatal depression

Summary

Among a total of 1,329 pregnant women, neither early loss experience by death or by separation before the age of 16 was related to any of the three depressive symptom constellations derived from Zung's Self-rating Depression Scale – Dysphoric Mood, Cognitive Disturbance, and Poor Concentration. Paternal and maternal low care and overprotection scores of the Parental Bonding Instrument, a measure of perceived rearing, had main effects on the Cognitive Disturbance and Poor Concentration scores, with significant interaction of the two predictors; Dysphoric Mood was also linked to maternal overprotection. These findings suggest that perceived parenting is a predictor of two specific symptom constellations of antenatal depression.