Factors of postpartum depression among teen mothers in Rwanda: a cross- sectional study

Objective: To identify the factors of postpartum depression among teen mothers. Method: A convenient sample of 120 teen mothers who were aged 15 to 19 years (M = 18.02, SD = 1.16) were recruited. Depression and its related factors were assessed with Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Eating Disorder Inventory (Body Dissatisfaction and Drive for Thinness subscales), Parental stress index (Parental distress and Parental-child dysfunctional interaction subscales), Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (parental criticism of parenting subscale) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Both descriptive and analytical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 22). Results: Results showed that 48% of sample had clinically high levels of depressive symptoms. Its associated factors were parental distress (beta = .297, t = 3.378, p = .001), weight/shape disturbances (beta = .217, t = 2.42, p = .017), economic income (beta = -.210, t = -2.32, p = .022) and parental-child dysfunctional interaction (beta = .20, t = 2.08, p = .03) among seven factors considered. Conclusion: Regression analyses showed that parental distress, weight/shape disturbances, economic income and parental-child dysfunctional interaction predicted unique variance associated with depression level. These findings are discussed in light of future work and the persistent need to inform prevention and treatment programs for teen mothers.