Abstract
Objectives
Little is known about the relationships between sex of infant, disappointment with sex of infant, and risk for perinatal depression, particularly in societies where the nature of parental sex preference is thought to be “balanced” between male and female offspring. We sought to explore relationships between these variables in a North American population.
Methods
In this exploratory study, we used data from a large Canadian prospective longitudinal study in which data were collected at up to four timepoints: during pregnancy, and at 1 week, 1 month and 3 months postpartum. Data about sex of infant, maternal preference for, and disappointment in sex of infant were recorded at the first possible timepoint; while at each postpartum timepoint infant fussiness and EPDS scores were recorded. We performed a mixed-effects linear regression to evaluate relationships between these variables.
Results
In our sample of N = 207 women, EPDS scores were higher for mothers of male versus female infants, and independently associated with infant fussiness. There was no interaction between sex of infant and maternal disappointment, or between maternal disappointment and EPDS scores.
Conclusions
Mothers of male infants may have slightly more depressive symptoms than mothers of female infants regardless of maternal preference for, or disappointment in sex of infant; sex-specific biological risk factors for PPD should be explored.
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Data Availability (Data Transparency)
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
Code Availability (Software Application or Custom Code)
Not applicable.
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Funding
The study was funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR).
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JA was responsible for study conception. JA, CS, EM, AA and CH contributed to study design. Data collection was conducted by CH, AI, EM, PC, HA, RB, and CS. Data analyses were conducted by CS and AA. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CS and JA and all authors reviewed and revised drafts critically. All authors read and reviewed the final manuscript.
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Dr. Austin reports grants and personal fees from the CIHR, grants and personal fees from the Michael Smith Foundation, personal fees from the Canada Research Chairs Program, personal fees and non-financial support from BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services, non-financial support from the BC Women’s Health Research Institute during the conduct of the study, and grants from Pfizer Canada outside the submitted work. All other authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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This study was approved by the Children’s and Women’s Research Ethics Board at the University of British Columbia (H06-70145).
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Slomp, C., Morris, E., Hippman, C. et al. Relationships Between Maternal Perinatal Mood, Sex of Infant, and Disappointment with Sex of Infant in a North American Sample. Matern Child Health J 27, 297–306 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-022-03583-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-022-03583-3