Socio-Cultural Correlates of Maternal Depression During Pregnancy in the US Mexican Population

Mexican-American women exhibit high levels of depressive symptoms during the perinatal period that can lead to adverse maternal/child outcomes. Thus, it is important to understand what socio-cultural variables contribute to depression in this population.  This study investigated which factors of social support and pregnancy-related stress contributed to depressive symptoms in the at-risk Mexican-American population and how these factors differed by acculturation Depression levels, social support, pregnancy-specific stress and overall relationship ratings were determined early, mid and late pregnancy of Mexican-American women. Pregnancy-specific stress, overall family relationship satisfaction, and both medical staff and child’s father-related social support were associated with depression in this population at differing time in pregnancy. Of those factors identified, only pregnancy specific stress and satisfaction with baby’s father support differed by acculturative status. This work suggests the need for culturally specific interventions during pregnancy to ameliorate maternal depressive symptoms within the Mexican and Mexican-American communities.  It is hypothesized that decreases in social support, overall family relationship satisfaction and increases in pregnancy stress will all predict increased depressive symptoms. As the Mexican American community has unique stressful cultural factors that contribute to increased levels of depression, the second aim of the study is to address if the factors that predict depression differ by a comprehensive measure of acculturative status. It is hypothesized that all identified factors will negatively contribute to maternal depression more so in acculturated women. Identifying the socio-cultural correlates of depression in the pregnant Mexican-American population may lead to novel and/or more efficacious intervention strategies.