Postnatal depression and reproductive success in modern, low-fertility contexts.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Postnatal depression (PND) presents a puzzling phenomenon to evolutionary anthropologists as it is highly prevalent and yet detrimental to child development and maternal health. Adaptive explanations have been proposed, but have not been tested with data that directly link PND to female fertility.

Methodology

A survey was designed to gather complete reproductive histories and retrospective measures of PND to measure the effects of PND on fitness. Respondents were born between 1930 and 1967, with the majority based in the UK during their childrearing years. The hypothesis that PND is detrimental to fitness is assessed using Mann-Whitney U tests on completed fertility. Binary logistic regression modelling is used to test the hypothesis that PND reduce

SUBMITTER: Myers S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4790780 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature