Mum’s anxiety increases as children grow
Friday, 24 October 2008The research, led by Professor Jake Najman, assessed mothers and children at regular intervals on measures of physical and mental well-being from the women’s first antenatal clinic visit as part of the long-running Mater-University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP).
Findings showed that when the babies were three to five days old, 9.6 per cent of the mothers were anxious and 3.1 per cent were depressed.
The numbers rose with each follow up and by the time the children were 21, almost 10 per cent of the mothers were depressed and 21.7 per cent were anxious.
Professor Najman, who presented the findings to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Health Care Symposium, said they were unexpected.
“A lot has been written about postnatal depression. Our work is surprising because it’s indicating that the mental health of the mother after she gives birth to the baby is relatively good and it gets worse as the child grows up,” he said.
“This is the first time we’ve seen this and now we need to start thinking about why it might be happening. We don’t know.”
He said the increase in mental problems might not have anything to do with their children, noting that these women are the among the first generation who had opted to return to the workforce after having children.
The study is yet to be published.
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