Re-assessing the importance and role of the marital relationship in postnatal depression: Methodological and theoretical implications

Abstract

This article re-assesses the importance and role of the marital relationship in postnatal depression in light of evidence from a recent qualitative study of 18 mothers’ accounts of their experiences of postnatal depression. Conceptual pitfalls of current studies in this area are highlighted and three fundamental assumptions ate questioned: (1) the primacy of the marital over other relationships in understanding postnatal depression; (2) the notion that relationships are‘poor’ because partners are unsupportive; (3) the assumption that poor marital relationships ‘cause’ postnatal depression. The study presents evidence pointing to the importance of women‚s relationships with other mothers with young children in understanding postnatal depression; it uncovers the varied and complex reasons why marital relationships might be described as ‘poor’, other than having an unsupportive partner; and it highlights the reciprocal relationship between postnatal depression and the marital relationship. The paper also discusses how theoretical advances in understanding postnatal depression have been hampered by niethodological limitations. Study designs are informed by existing research and by researchers’ own beliefs, experiences and assumptions rather than by research participants' own accounts of their experiences. Consequently, issues which are meaningful to the women and men concerned and relevant to understanding postnatal depression continue to be obscured.