Depression in Women

Postpartum depression is a significant health issue that has affected over 10% of womenworldwide. However, it has not received the attention it deserves, and many womencontinue to suffer in silence. Certain risk factors are indicative of postpartum depression.Some include a history of depression and a lack of a support system. Others includeweight gain, breastfeeding, and physical/emotional abuse. However, research on these islimited. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the effect of breastfeeding, weight gain,and abuse on postpartum depression in women between 18 and 40+. This cross-sectionalstudy used secondary data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring SystemsPhase 8 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The theoretical framework forthis study was Bronfenbrenner's social-ecological model, and the data analysis was doneusing logistic regression analysis. The results indicated that weight gain in women 18-29years old affected postpartum depression (p<0.05), while in women 30-40 years old,there was no effect (p>0.05). For breastfeeding, the results showed that exclusivebreastfeeding for 6 months or less did not affect postpartum depression (p>0.05), but for9 months, there was an effect (p<0.05), while during pregnancy, physical/emotionalabuse in women 18-40+ by a partner, postpartum depression may result (p<0.05). Theresults obtained from this study may help develop intervention measures targeted at theserisk factors, thus assisting in the early detection of postpartum depression in women.Also, this research contributes to the existing body of scholarly knowledge of postpartumdepression. This study hopes to contribute to positive social change by providing possibleevidence for public health intervention to reduce postpartum depression in women.