Objective

There have been conflicting reports about the relative prevalence of maternal depression in African American vs. Caucasian mothers. Not only is available evidence dated, these epidemiological studies did not include the assessment of stress, a known risk factor for depression.  The current secondary analysis of data made available by the Iowa Department of Public Health addressed these limitations.

Method

Data from Iowa’s 2013 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System survey were utilized. This public health surveillance survey is given women in Iowa who recently gave birth. Variables relevant to the present analysis included race, depressive symptoms, and life stressors. Selected women are first contacted by mail when their infant is over two months old. If there is no response, surveys are sent up to two more times. If there is still no response, women are contacted and interviewed by telephone. Upon completion, all mothers are given a $10 gift certificate for diapers. In 2011, 1168 women completed this survey. For the current analysis, IDPH provided survey results in chart form, i.e, the number and percentage of women by ethnic reporting depressive symptoms and each type of stressor.

Results

The prevalence of depressive symptoms was higher in African American (19.1%) vs. Caucasian (8.6%) mothers. There was a higher prevalence of African American (42.6%) vs. Caucasian (24.8%) mothers that report dealing with 3 or more stressors.  Among African American mothers the most frequently endorsed stressors were instability of housing, poor interpersonal relationships and death of family members.

Conclusions and Implications

These findings translate to diminished social and emotional well-being for many African American mothers.  Developing or sustaining programs to improve the economic and emotional well-being should be a public health priority.