ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This Study examined the relationship of depressive tendency in postpartum women with psychosocial factors such as infant temperament, parental stress and coping style. METHODS: The subjects consisted of 105 postpartum women, each of whom had an infant aged 4 to 12 months. They were assessed on demographic variables and on measures of the depressive symptomatology, infant temperament, parental stress and the coping style using Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), the EAS temperamental survey, Parenting Stress Index(PSI), the Way of Coping Checklist(WCC). And then we assessed the relationship of depressive tendency in postpartum women with psychosocial factors. RESULTS: The results were as follows: 1) Depressive tendency in postpartum women had significant relationship with emotionality(r=.26 p<0.05) and activity(r=.22 p<0.05) of infant temperament. 2) Depressive tendency in postpartum women had significant relationship with parenting stress(r=.44 p<0.001). 3) Depressive tendency in postpartum women had no significant relationship with coping style. 4) Parental stress had significant relationship with emotionality(r=.49 p<0.001) but did not have any relationship with sociability and activity of infant temperament. Parenting stress had no significant relationship with coping style. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that depressive tendency in postpartum women correlated with emotionality and activity of infant temperament correlated with parenting stress but not correlated with coping style. Infant temperament and parenting stress to child rearing are more significantly correlated with depressive tendency in postpartum women than coping style of postpartum women.