Which role for trait-anxiety in paternal perinatal depression? Preliminary results on healthy subjects

Objectives: Paternal Perinatal Depression (PPND) is a clinical condition, referred to emergence of depressive mood, i.e. sadness, hopelessness, despair and melancholy, but also loss of interest, and impairment in concentration and work performance, in fathers during the pregnancy in first postpartum year. Recently, the overlap with anxiety disorders is frequently observed. The study was aimed at evaluating a relationship between trait-anxiety and symptoms of PPND, in order to highlight trait-anxiety in onset of depressive syndrome.

Study design: A total number 79 participants have been recruited by convenience sampling method. Partners of pregnant women at the second trimester of pregnancy (17 ÷ 21 weeks of gestation) were consecutively recruited. At baseline, in 2nd trimester of pregnancy, and at 2nd months after childbirth, the psychiatric interview and socio-demographic data collection, were carried out and all subjects completed a self-administered STAI questionnaire. In postpartum period, the subjects completed the screening for postpartum depressive symptoms with PDSS scale.

Results: Severity of "Anxiety proneness," assessed by STAI-Y, was "moderate in total sample (mean 58.7 ± 4.2). All fathers reported scores in clinical range, with one subject (1.3%) described as "mild," 56 "moderate" (70.9%), and 22 "severe" (27.8%). For symptoms of PPND, considering total sample, severity of depressive symptoms, was at the upper normal limit (mean score ± S.D. = 59.2 ± 33.1) and according to cutoff, in 35 subjects "normal adjustment" (44.3%), "significant symptoms" (13.9%) and "positive" in 33 (41.8%). We find a positive correlation among total score of STAI-Y and PDSS subscales, in particular section of Anxiety/Insecurity (p = .011), Emotional Liability (p = .007), Cognitive Impairment (p = .023), and Loss of Self (p = .012).

Conclusions: Trait-anxiety, as a personality dimension, is included in neuroticism, that is one of the risk factors of the clinical condition of prenatal depression. In our study, we found a level of pathological trait anxiety, assessed in the post-partum phase. This confirms the stability of the trait anxiety construct, as a dimensional component of the personality and the findings, may be useful for promote early intervention programs for psychological support of parents, focused on individual differences in anxiety vulnerability.