Locus of control and depression preand postpartum

Abstract

Fifty-four primiparous women were administered Rotter's Locus of Control Scale and Zung's Self-rating Depresision Scale during the last trimester of pregnancy. Four to eight weeks postpartum they again responded to the Zung scale. External locus of control showed a low but significant correlation with prepartum depression but was not predictive of postpartum depression. Mean scores and incidence for depression pre- and postpartum were consistently slightly but not significantly higher for externals than for internals. Extreme externals had a significantly higher mean depression score prepartum, but not postpartum, than extreme internals. Differences between the mean pre- and post-partum scores were minimal for the total group, internals and externals, but many women showed marked changes in either direction. The correlation between pre- and postpartum depression scores was significant for internals but not for externals. The mean change in depression from preto postpartum was significantly greater for externals than for internals. Significantly more externals than internals showed a change form pre- to postpartum greater than the mean change for the overall group. Among those with the most extreme change there were significantly more externals, and among those with the least change significantly more internals.