Many Norwegian women postpone pregnancy until they have completed their education and are well established on their career path. This may make them more vulnerable to postpartum depression.

“There are some indications that older, first-time mothers are vulnerable to postpartum depression (PPD), perhaps because they are used to being in control of their own lives: they have completed a long education and established a career before they have children. But you can’t control a baby; on the contrary, you have to be extremely flexible. Several of the women I interviewed said themselves that this contributed to the huge feeling of letdown when things did not turn out as they had planned,” says Silje Marie Haga, who recently defended her doctoral thesis Identifying risk factors for postpartum depressive symptoms: the importance of social support, self-efficacy, and emotion regulation.

International studies have found that teenage mothers are at increased risk of postpartum depression, and previously this group has received extra attention. But in Norway this is a small group. Haga therefore believes that initiatives should now be targeted towards the much larger group of older mothers.

“Having very clear expectations and a great need for control is a risk factor. Those who prepare themselves to a very high degree for how life with the child will be have a hard time when things do not go as planned. So it’s not the need for control in itself, but rather the failure to achieve specific expectations that can trigger a depression. In contrast, women who take a more relaxed approach to motherhood with more undefined expectations cope better with unexpected challenges,” Haga observes.

She stresses that she is not warning women against postponing pregnancy, but that she believes it is vital to be aware of this correlation. This gives an opportunity to launch initiatives targeted towards this group of women so that they acquire more realistic expectations of what lies ahead. [continue reading…]