Abstract

ZINI, Laura Astrada de Souza; FRIZZO, Giana Bitencourt  and  LEVANDOWSKI, Daniela Centenaro. Maternal depression and marital adjustment of young mothers and its relationship with baby’s psychofunctional symptoms. Pensando fam. [online]. 2018, vol.22, n.2, pp. 03-19. ISSN 1679-494X.

This study investigated maternal depression and perception of marital adjustment of young mothers, to understand its impact on the baby’s psychofunctional symptoms. It is a transversal contrasting cases study, in which two mothers (20 and 21years), whose babies were 8 and 11 months old, from Porto Alegre/RS, were interviewed. R-DAS, EPDS and Symptom Check List were also applied to evaluate, respectively, marital adjustment, maternal depression and baby’s psychofunctional symptoms. Data were integrated in the case analysis. The results suggest that perception of poor marital adjustment and presence of maternal depression may contribute to baby’s psychofunctional symptoms, through a spillover process, i.e., the overflow of marital maladjustment on parental relationship. These findings are relevant to clinical practice, in searching for psychological interventions that promote the mental health of couples and babies.

Keywords : Marital relationship; Marital adjustment; Maternal depression; Parenthood; Baby; Somatic symptoms.

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