女人先立业后成家更易患产后抑郁症

2012-03-22 08:52

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'Feeling like a failure': Ms Haga said older mothers may have higher expectations of themselves

Women who wait to have a baby until after they have established their career are more likely to suffer from post-natal depression, scientists say.

Older mothers are more likely to 'over-prepare' for their first-born and struggle when things don't go as planned, a study suggests.

The findings are of great significance in the UK, where an increasing number of women are choosing to delay motherhood until they are more financially secure.

Research leader Silje Marie Haga, from the University of Oslo, in Norway, said: 'There are some indications that older, first-time mothers are vulnerable to postpartum depression, 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.'

In the UK, there were 26,976 babies born to mothers of 40 and over in 2009, compared with 9,336 in 1989, according to the Office for National Statistics figures.

The latest study analysed surveys from around 350 new mothers as well as in-depth interviews with 12 first-time mothers. It found 16.5 percent reported suffering from depression for up to six months after giving birth.

Ms Haga said the interviews highlighted a number of risk factors apart from biological ones.

'It’s not the need for control in itself, but rather the failure to achieve specific expectations that can trigger a depression,' she said.

'In contrast, women who take a more relaxed approach to motherhood with more undefined expectations cope better with unexpected challenges.'

Other women struggled after the delivery left them 'feeling like a failure'.

One new mother told Ms Haga she struggled after having an unplanned caesarean section: 'That wasn’t how I was supposed to have a baby. I was so tired and so disappointed, I was so sad,' she said.

'I hadn’t been able to give birth to my baby; someone had to do it for me.'

'In my study the women who had the greatest need for control often had the strongest wish to have a natural birth,' Ms Haga noted.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)

科学家称，那些等事业有成再要宝宝的女性更容易患产后抑郁症。

一项研究表明，高龄母亲更倾向于为第一胎宝宝做过多准备，当事情不按计划发展时，就会很纠结。

这一研究发现对于英国人而言意义重大。在英国，越来越多的女性选择在经济上有保障后再生宝宝。

研究领头人、来自挪威奥斯陆大学的西尔杰•玛丽•哈加说：“有一些迹象表明，初次生育年龄更大的母亲更容易得产后抑郁症，这可能是因为她们习惯于掌控自己的生活：她们已经完成了多年的学业，并在生育前事业有成。

“但你无法控制一个宝宝，相反地，你必须非常能变通。

“我采访的几个女性称，当事情的结果不像她们计划的那样时，她们会感到极其失望。”

根据英国国家统计局的数据，在英国，2009年出生的婴儿有26976个是40岁以上母亲所生的，而1989年这样的婴儿为9336个。