Psychosocial factors associated with trajectories of maternal psychological distress over a 10-year period from the first year postpartum: An Australian population-based study.

<bold>Background: </bold>Maternal mental health problems contributes significantly to perinatal morbidities and extend beyond the perinatal period for some women. Drawing data from a population-based study this paper aimed to: 1) identify patterns of maternal psychological distress spanning ten years following the birth of a baby, and 2) identify psychosocial risk factors in the first postnatal year for trajectories of elevated psychological distress.<bold>Methodology: </bold>A secondary analysis was conducted using data from 4875 mothers participating in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The Kessler-6 assessed maternal psychological distress symptoms when the child was 0-12 months, 2-3 years, 4-5 years, 6-7 years, 8-9 years and 10-11 years. Longitudinal latent class analyses (LCA) was conducted to identify patterns of psychological distress. Latent class membership was assigned and used in subsequent regression analyses to identify predictors of each trajectory.<bold>Results: </bold>LCA identified five distinct trajectories of maternal psychological distress symptoms over time. Predictors of trajectories with elevated symptoms reflected a pattern of social and economic disadvantage and psychosocial stress. The strongest predictors of elevated mental health symptoms were a history of depression [OR: 7.57(4.73-12.11)] and 3 or more stressful life events in the past year [OR: 3.38(2.02-5.65)].<bold>Limitations: </bold>The assessment of maternal mental health and child health was based on brief self-report measures and mothers from lower socioeconomic and diverse cultural backgrounds were underrepresented.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>These findings underscore the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of women at risk of mental health problems in the postnatal period and early years of parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]