Development of an instrument to measure paternal postpartum depression

The main aim of the current thesis was to develop a reliable and valid paternal postpartum depression (PPD) scale and to investigate psychosocial factors associated with PPD. To pursue this aim, a multi-method design was performed in that a qualitative and quantitative study were conducted, sequentially. In the qualitative strand, 12 fathers with moderate to high depression were interviewed, and obtained data was analyzed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four super-ordinate themes were conceptualized: (1) Motherhood as an Idealized yet Overburdening Phenomenon, (2) Masculinity Related Pressures on Fathers, (3) Masculine Expression of Fatherhood Related Stress, and (4) Compromisation of Couple Relationship due to Parenthood. This strand aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of paternal postpartum depression experiences to delineate items of the newly developed scale. The second quantitative strand had two aims in itself: (1) development and psychometric validation of the paternal postpartum depression scale and (2) testing a moderated mediation model. Sample of the quantitative strand for psychometric validation included 190 fathers with new babies aged between 2 and 8 months old. New fathers completed the newly developed Paternal Postpartum Depression Scale (PPDS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Based on the results obtained from Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), final version of PPDS consisted of 27 items with a 2-factor structure. Cronbach's alpha values were satisfactory. Correlation analysis revealed that PPDS was positively correlated with BDI and EPDS scores and negatively correlated with SWLS. Secondly, a moderated mediation model was tested by using PROCESS software to investigate mediating roles of parenting stress and marital adjustment on the relation between father's attachment styles and paternal depressive symptoms; and to inspect whether maternal depression moderated the proposed relationships. Accordingly, data obtained from 145 father-mother dyads were included for the subsequent analyses. The results showed that perceived parenting stress significantly mediated the relationship between paternal attachment styles and depression scores, and maternal depression significantly moderated this relationship. However, no significant impact was found for marital satisfaction in the model alone or with the involvement of maternal postpartum depression as the moderator. Findings were discussed in line with the relevant literature. Keywords: Paternal Postpartum Depression, Maternal Depression, Parenting Stress, Child Mental Health, Family Functioning, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis