Infant gender and postpartum sadness in the light of region of birth and some other factors: a contribution to the knowledge of postpartum depression

The purpose of this paper is to analyse postpartum depressive symptoms as related to baby gender, maternal region of birth,
stress, perception of child difficult temperament and some demographic factors. The setting was 36 Swedish child health centres.
Mothers of 1,848 19-month-old children completed a questionnaire, including an item about recall of postpartum sadness. A
subsample of 360 answered the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Overall, significantly more mothers of boys than
of girls recalled postpartum sadness. The same was found in mothers born in Sweden and in other regions, except for the Middle
East (no significant result). Among those born in Sweden and in other regions, more mothers of boys than of girls scored ≥12
on the EPDS, except for Middle East mothers with the opposite pattern (no significant finding). More mothers of “difficult”
boys than of “difficult” girls recalled postpartum sadness. Our findings are tentative but may inspire future research. Immigrant
mothers in Sweden seem rather like the majority population, possibly with the exception of Middle East mothers. The significance
of parents’ knowledge of their child’s gender in advance is an important area for research. Future parents could benefit from
discussing gender expectations with a nurse or other professional.