Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences. 2012; 117: 430–438 ORIGINAL ARTICLE The association between perceived relationship discord at childbirth and parental postpartum depressive symptoms: a comparison of mothers and fathers in Sweden BIRGITTA KERSTIS1, GABRIELLA ENGSTRÖM2, KRISTINA SUNDQUIST 3 , MARGARETA WIDARSSON1 & ANDREAS ROSENBLAD1 1Centre for Clinical Research, Uppsala University, Central Hospital, Västerås, Sweden, 2School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden, and 3Primary Health Care Research, Clinical Research Centre, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden Abstract Aim. To examine whether mothers’ and fathers’ levels of perceived relationship discord at childbirth were associated with postpartum depressive symptoms when the child was 3 months old. Another aim was to examine parents’ levels of self-reported depressive symptoms. The hypothesis was that parents with high levels of perceived relationship discord have higher levels of postpartum depressive symptoms than parents with low levels of perceived relationship discord. Method. One week after childbirth, 305 couples’ perceived level of relationship discord was measured using the Dyadic Consensus Subscale (DCS) of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS). At 3 months postpartum, the same couples answered the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) questionnaire. The relations between perceived level of relationship discord and postpartum depressive symptoms were analysed using standard non-parametric statistical methods. Results. The mothers and fathers partly differed regarding which areas of their relationship they perceived that they disagreed with their partners about. Furthermore, 16.5% of the mothers and 8.7% of the fathers reported postpartum depressive symptoms, and there was a moderate level of correlation between the DCS and EPDS scores. Conclusion. These results may be useful for professionals in antenatal care and child health centres as well as for family caregivers who need to be aware that mothers and fathers may have different views on relationship discord and of the high level of depressive symptoms in recent parents. Further research is needed to examine perceived relationship discord and the development of depressive symptoms postpartum over a longer term. Key words: Depression postpartum, family, family relations, fathers, mothers Introduction The birth of a child makes life change for an individual and her/his relationship. Shortly after the birth of a child, many parents experience feelings of emotional distress. For some, these feelings grow worse and they develop postpartum depressive symp- toms (1). Several studies have described an associa- tion between marital discord and depression (2,3). The prevalence of postpartum depressive symp- toms among women varies between studies; from about 10% to >20% (3–5). Postpartum depressive symptoms among men have been less well studied, but an estimate sets the prevalence at about 10% (6). In Sweden, the prevalence of depressive symptoms among women is 12.5% at 8 weeks and 8.3% at 12 weeks postpartum (7). With such a high preva- lence, antenatal care, which is responsible for the postpartum follow-up of new mothers, and child health centres (CHC) will likely meet both women and men with postpartum depressive symptoms. What is lacking is a study examining parents’ per- ceived levels of relationship discord in relation to postpartum depressive symptoms. Correspondence: Birgitta Kerstis, Centre for Clinical Research, Central Hospital, S-721 89 Västerås, Sweden. Fax: +46 21 17 37 33. E-mail: birgitta.kerstis@ltv.se (Received 11 October 2011; accepted 10 April 2012) ISSN 0300-9734 print/ISSN 2000-1967 online DOI: 10.3109/03009734.2012.684805 2012 Informa Healthcare