“Who is unhappy after childbirth?”: Antenatal and intrapartum correlates from a prospective study

Abstract

Unhappiness after childbirth is a phenomenon that has attracted much attention but little consensus in the research literature. A prospective study of 825 women found antenatal mood to be an important predictor of postnatal mood. Postnatal mood was also related to subjective experiences of labour, particularly those to do with information and control. Furthermore, although these experiences were also related to antenatal mood the effects on postnatal emotional wellbeing were independent and additive. Independent variables such as social class were not found to be related to emotional wellbeing. It is suggested that the lack of consensus in the literature may be a failure to consider a sufficient range of variables, particularly antenatal mood.