The mediating role of family function in the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptoms in mid-pregnancy women: a birth cohort study in Wuhan, China.
{"title":"The mediating role of family function in the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptoms in mid-pregnancy women: a birth cohort study in Wuhan, China.","authors":"Yihan He, Hui Zhou, Jiyu Luo, Ao Xu, Dongmei Qiu, Haiyun Huang, Xiaorui Peng, Yujia Zhou, Lingyun Xu, Yang Li, Yuanyuan Li, Xiang Hu, Hongling Zhang","doi":"10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1588065","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In current research on prenatal depression among pregnant women, the role of family functioning is crucial yet often overlooked. Specifically, in the field of maternal mental health, relatively limited attention has been given to the psychological well-being of women during the second trimester of pregnancy. This study aims to assess the depression, family functioning, and stressful life events of women in their second trimester, and to explore whether family functioning mediates the relationship between stressful events and depressive symptoms.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A questionnaire survey was conducted with 3,386 pregnant women from the Wuhan Healthy Baby Birth Cohort. Participants completed the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10), the Family APGAR Index, and the 18-item Stressful Life Events Scale. Structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The findings revealed significant interrelationships among depression, family functioning, and stressful life events. Family functioning was found to partially mediate the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptoms during the second trimester, explaining 21.9% of the variance.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings suggest that improving family functioning and fostering communication can help reduce depressive symptoms during the second trimester, supporting maternal mental health.</p>","PeriodicalId":12605,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Psychiatry","volume":"16 ","pages":"1588065"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12500577/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Psychiatry","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1588065","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: In current research on prenatal depression among pregnant women, the role of family functioning is crucial yet often overlooked. Specifically, in the field of maternal mental health, relatively limited attention has been given to the psychological well-being of women during the second trimester of pregnancy. This study aims to assess the depression, family functioning, and stressful life events of women in their second trimester, and to explore whether family functioning mediates the relationship between stressful events and depressive symptoms.
Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted with 3,386 pregnant women from the Wuhan Healthy Baby Birth Cohort. Participants completed the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10), the Family APGAR Index, and the 18-item Stressful Life Events Scale. Structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the data.
Results: The findings revealed significant interrelationships among depression, family functioning, and stressful life events. Family functioning was found to partially mediate the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptoms during the second trimester, explaining 21.9% of the variance.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that improving family functioning and fostering communication can help reduce depressive symptoms during the second trimester, supporting maternal mental health.
期刊介绍：
Frontiers in Psychiatry publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research across a wide spectrum of translational, basic and clinical research. Field Chief Editor Stefan Borgwardt at the University of Basel is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians and the public worldwide.
The journal''s mission is to use translational approaches to improve therapeutic options for mental illness and consequently to improve patient treatment outcomes.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
