ABSTRACT

Purpose

Symptoms of depression and anxiety during the perinatal period have a negative impact on mothers and their developing children. A significant body of research has demonstrated an association between mental health and both individual and interpersonal emotion regulation. Yet, this association has not been studied during the perinatal period. The aim of this study was to explore the association between emotion regulation, maternal mental health, and interpersonal emotion regulation during the transition to motherhood in a sample of Chilean women.

Methods

Women in their third trimester of pregnancy (n = 253) provided self-reports of emotion regulation and symptoms of depression and anxiety during pregnancy and three months postpartum. Additional self-reports of interpersonal emotion regulation were obtained from individuals who were identified as social support persons by these women. Results: Maternal emotion regulation contributed to maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety during pregnancy and after childbirth. The association between emotion regulation and maternal mental health was moderated by specific interpersonal emotion regulation strategies reported by the participant’s social support persons. Strategies including modulating the emotional response, situation modification, attentional deployment and cognitive change, modified the association between poor regulation strategies and anxiety symptoms. Also, an infrequent use of these interpersonal emotion regulation strategies strengthened the association between these maternal emotional regulation difficulties and anxiety symptoms.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that interpersonal emotional regulation strategies impact the association of maternal emotional regulation strategies and maternal emotional wellbeing.

中文翻译：

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人际情绪调节对产妇心理健康的作用

摘要

目的

围产期的抑郁和焦虑症状会对母亲及其发育中的孩子产生负面影响。大量研究表明，心理健康与个人和人际情绪调节之间存在关联。然而，在围产期尚未研究这种关联。本研究的目的是探讨智利女性样本在向母亲过渡期间情绪调节、母亲心理健康和人际情绪调节之间的关系。

方法

妊娠晚期的妇女 (n = 253) 提供了怀孕期间和产后三个月的情绪调节以及抑郁和焦虑症状的自我报告。额外的人际情绪调节自我报告是从被这些女性认定为社会支持者的个体中获得的。结果：母亲的情绪调节会导致母亲在怀孕期间和分娩后出现抑郁和焦虑症状。情绪调节与母亲心理健康之间的关联受到参与者社会支持人员报告的特定人际情绪调节策略的调节。包括调节情绪反应、改变情境、注意力部署和认知改变在内的策略改变了不良调节策略与焦虑症状之间的关联。此外，不经常使用这些人际情绪调节策略加强了这些母亲情绪调节困难与焦虑症状之间的关联。

结论

我们的研究结果表明，人际情绪调节策略会影响母亲情绪调节策略和母亲情绪健康的关联。