Low-Income, African American, Adolescent Mothers’ Depressive Symptoms, Perceived Stress, and Social Support

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive repeated-measures study was to describe depressive symptom patterns and report changes over time in levels of perceived stress and social support depending on patterns of depressive symptoms in single, low-income, African American, adolescent mothers during the initial, 6-month postpartum period. Thirty-five adolescent subjects between the ages of 16 and 22 years old were recruited at health care clinics in two Midwestern cities. Data collections by advanced practice nurses were completed at 1 week, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postpartum at mothers’ homes. Established instruments were used to measure depressive symptoms, perceived stress and social support. Results indicated 63% of adolescent mothers’ experienced depressive symptoms sometime during this transition period and 11.4% of these subjects had depressive symptoms at all 4 time points. Depressive symptoms were associated with perceived stress at each time point. Emotional support was inversely associated with depressive symptoms at 2 of the 4 time points. Depressive symptoms and problematic support were significantly related at 3 months and 6 months. Although single, low-income, African American, adolescent mothers are considered a high risk group, some are at even greater risk. This extremely high risk group have depressive symptoms throughout the first 6 months postpartum with the highest level of perceived stress and the most variability in social support relative to groups that were never depressed or were in and out of depression. More studies are needed to understand how to best help these high risk adolescents successfully transition to motherhood.

Longitudinal associations between maternal feeding and overweight in low-income toddlers

“…Among the mothers, (37.8%) had an education level of a high school diploma or less. Depressive symptoms, as measured by the CES-D, were greater than in the general population but consistent with ratings in low-income U.S. mothers of young children (Campbell-Grossman et al, 2016; Hall, Williams, & Greenberg, 1985). The sample size of participants contributing to analyses at each age is shown in Table 2.…”

Social Support, Parenting Competence, and Parenting Satisfaction Among Adolescent, African American, Mothers

“…Despite reporting moderate levels of problematic support, it was not associated with the mothers’ perceptions of their parental competence or satisfaction. Greater problematic support was associated with greater depression (Campbell-Grossman et al, 2016) in adolescent African American mothers. Similarly, more problematic support from the primary support person was significantly correlated with more loneliness (Brage-Hudson, Campbell-Grossman, & Hertzog, 2016).…”

No straight lines – young women’s perceptions of their mental health and wellbeing during and after pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-ethnography

“…Not all young women who are pregnant or parenting have mental health issues – and for some young women parenting is a positive and affirming experience – but problems may be particularly pervasive in high-risk groups such as those who lack support [13], for those young women who have experience of the care system [14] or those with prior psychological distress [15]. Furthermore, young women who have suffered abuse [16] or have been exposed to violence may also be at risk for increased depressive symptoms [17, 18].…”