Depressive disorders arising in the postnatal period can affect 10-16% of women and there is growing evidence for a range of adverse consequences for the mother and her child long after the symptoms may have remitted. Nevertheless, reliably detecting women who may be at risk of depression following childbirth continues to be problematic to health care workers. Drawing on a diathesis-stress model, the current study used a prospective design to investigate cognitive factors that might indicate a vulnerability to postnatal depressive symptomatology. A cohort of nulliparous pregnant women were recruited from antenatal clinics and parentcraft classes. They were interviewed during the third trimester of pregnancy when assessments of social support, mood, early experience of maternal behaviour, and neurotic personality traits were carried out. In addition, three sets of cognitive measures were included in this interview: the specificity of autobiographical recall, the nature of self-discrepancies, and self-devaluation. Ninety-four women without mental health problems at the time of the baseline assessment were followed up at two weeks and at two months post-delivery, when they were asked to complete measures relating to their mood. It was hypothesised that the cognitive characteristics would predict mood score at 2 months postpartum (Time 3), but not at the earlier follow-up stage of 2 weeks (Time 2) when biologicaVhormonal factors were believed to playa predominant role in aetiology. It was also hypothesised that these factors would mediate the relationship between both early experience and personality style, and postnatal mood. The results showed that the degree of self-devaluation, and low specificity of autobiographical recall, predicted depressive symptoms at Time 3, and that selfdevaluation also mediated the effects of early experience and neuroticism on postnatal mood. Self-discrepancy scores were not found to be useful in predicting subsequent levels of depression in the current sample. The clinical implications of these findings for the detection and prevention of postnatal depressed mood are discussed.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Wendy Simonds, committee chair; Ralph LaRossa, Phil Davis, committee members. Electronic text (101 p. : col. ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Nov. 5, 2007. Includes bibliographical references.

Gender inequality is the root cause of the differences in mental disorders prevalence between men and women. The aim of this thesis was to examine social inequalities in mental health, focusing on gender as a critical determinant of mental health and mental illness. In the first chapter, the ways mental health is shaped by gender and other social determinants are discussed. Gender-based discrimination, traditional gender roles, unequal distribution of power and lack of control over life events are the most common risk factors for higher prevalence of mental disorders in women. In the empirical part of this thesis the European countries were grouped based on indicators related to women's mental health. The typology was developed using factor and cluster analyses. Subsequently, logistic regression analysis investigated associations between prevalence of depression and various social determinants of mental health in respondents of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The results suggest that risk factors for common mental disorders are gender specific.