| To explore postpartum depression (PPD) and post-adoption depression (PAD), the researcher administered all of the following online to 130 birth and adoptive mothers aged 21— 60: a questionnaire developed for the study, the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The literature on PPD was examined and used to generate hypotheses about factors that contribute to or protect against PAD. Results for the two groups of study participants (birth mothers and adoptive mothers) were compared. Support was found for several of the hypotheses tested. It is expected that the findings of this study will contribute to the academic literature on parenting, stressors encountered by new mothers, factors that mitigate those stressors, and PAD. |
