Emotion Dysregulation Robustly Predicts Depressive Symptoms above and beyond Life Events and Social Support in Sub-Saharan African Pregnant Women

Abstract

Although depression is widely investigated in relation to birth outcomes among women, greater research interest has been given to postpartum depression and its outcomes than to depression during pregnancy. In the present study a sub-Saharan African sample of pregnant women (N = 144; M_age = 29.55 years, SD = 5.20) completed self-report measures of stressful life events, emotion dysregulation, social support, and perinatal depression. Independent of socio-demographic factors, life events did not significantly predict depressive symptoms. Emotion dysregulation predicted elevated depressive symptoms, whereas increased social support predicted reduced symptoms of depression. Interventions designed to facilitate effective emotion regulation and enhance social support for pregnant women may be valuable to enhance their mental well-being.

Keywords:

• Depression
• emotion dysregulation
• life events
• pregnancy
• social support

Acknowledgments

We thank the pregnant women who participated in the study even when there was no monetary reward given to them.

Disclosure statement

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.