Objective: The objective of this work is to explore whether the relationship between pain after delivery and postpartum depression is increased or decreased by the use of religion as a coping strategy (moderation).
Methods: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted. The sample was evaluated on three occasions: third trimester of pregnancy (religious coping), after birth (pain severity) and four months after delivery (postpartum depression). Participants were 122 women (mean age = 31.29; SD = 4.9: range = [22, 42 years]) with low obstetric risk.
Results: Both pain severity and religious coping contributed to postpartum depression (r = .20, p = .029 and r = .28, p = .04, respectively). Religious coping exacerbated the relationship between pain after delivery and postpartum depression (B = -0.11, t = -2.48, p = .014, [-0.20, -0.02]). Depression was highest in participants using religious coping irrespective of pain severity levels.
Conclusion: These findings support the importance of person-environment interaction studies and provide new evidence on the deleterious role of religious coping in the well-being of women after childbirth.
Keywords: Religious coping; postpartum depression; postpartum pain; pregnancy.