Abstract
Maternal postpartum mental health is influenced by a broad range of risk and protective factors including social circumstances. Forty percent of Australian women resume employment in the first year postpartum, yet poor quality employment (without security, control, flexibility or leave) has not been investigated as a potential social determinant of maternal psychological distress. This paper examines whether poor quality jobs are associated with an increased risk of maternal postpartum psychological distress. Data were collected from employed mothers of infants ≤12 months (n = 1,300) participating in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Logistic regression analyses estimated the association between job quality and maternal psychological distress, adjusting for prior depression, social support, quality of partner relationship, adverse life events and sociodemographic characteristics. Only 21% of women reported access to all four optimal job conditions. After adjustment for known risk factors for poor maternal mood, mothers were significantly more likely to report psychological distress (adjusted OR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.09, 1.77) with each reduction in the number of optimal employment conditions. Interventions for maternal postpartum affective disorders are unlikely to be successful if major risk factors are not addressed. These results provide strong evidence that employment conditions are associated with maternal postpartum mood, and warrant consideration in psychosocial risk assessments and interventions.
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Acknowledgements
This paper uses unit record data from Growing Up in Australia, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The study is conducted in partnership between the Australian government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The findings and views reported are those of the authors and should not be attributed to FaHCSIA, AIFS or the ABS. LSAC study design and data collection were funded by FaHCSIA. The authors were supported by funding from the Victorian Government Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (AC, LC), the Australian Research Council (LS, Discovery Grant DP0774439) and the National Health & Medical Research Council (JN, Career Development Award 390136). We thank all parents and children who took part in the study. Thanks to Rebecca Giallo, Catherine Wade and Nina Lucas for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. The authors would like to acknowledge Nina Lucas for her assistance in preparing the revisions to the submitted manuscript.
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Cooklin, A.R., Canterford, L., Strazdins, L. et al. Employment conditions and maternal postpartum mental health: results from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Arch Womens Ment Health 14, 217–225 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-010-0196-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-010-0196-9