Thesis
Psychological pain and life history: examining predictors of postpartum depression in the National Heath and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2019
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/100719
Abstract
Parental psychology has been shaped by natural selection. One model, the Psychological Pain Hypothesis (PPH) theorizes that mechanisms have evolved that function to detect signals relating to the investment risk in a given reproductive scenario and cue parents to either 1) alter their investment in the infant or 2) bargain for additional investment from social partners. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships implicated by the PPH between factors including parity, age, partnership, and others and postpartum depression (PPD). The study utilized publicly available data collected for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2005-2016. The data from the two phases from 2005-2008 were used for exploratory analyses, and promising models were then tested in confirmatory analyses using data from 2009-2016. Results supported previous literature that indicates poverty, unpartnered status, illness, and disability are risk factors for PPD. The study also produced mixed evidence that parity interacts with partnership to increase the risk of PPD. However, the direction of this effect is unclear. Finally, the study showed no difference of the effect of these risk factors on depression during the postpartum period versus at other times for reproductive-aged women (20-44), supporting the use of PPD as a model for general depression.
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Details
- Title
- Psychological pain and life history
- Creators
- Caroline Benning Smith
- Contributors
- Edward H. Hagen (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525172201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis