Background: This prospective cohort study explored the effects of prenatal and postpartum depression on breastfeeding and the effect of breastfeeding on postpartum depression.Method: The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) was administered to 145 women at the first, second and third trimester, and at the neonatal period and 3 months postpartum. Self-report exclusive breastfeeding since birth was collected at birth and at 3, 6 and 12 months postpartum. Data analyses were performed using repeated-measures ANOVAs and logistic and multiple linear regressions.Results: Depression scores at the third trimester, but not at 3 months postpartum, were the best predictors of exclusive breastfeeding duration (β = −0.30,t = −2.08,p < 0.05). A significant decrease in depression scores was seen from childbirth to 3 months postpartum in women who maintained exclusive breastfeeding for ⩾3 months (F_1,65 = 3.73,p < 0.10,η_p² = 0.05).Conclusions: These findings suggest that screening for depression symptoms during pregnancy can help to identify women at risk for early cessation of exclusive breastfeeding, and that exclusive breastfeeding may help to reduce symptoms of depression from childbirth to 3 months postpartum.

To review the literature on the association between breastfeeding and postpartum depression. A review of literature found on MEDLINE/PubMed database. The literature consistently shows that breastfeeding provides a wide range of benefits for both the child and the mother. The psychological benefits for the mother are still in need of further research. Some studies point out that pregnancy depression is one of the factors that may contribute to breastfeeding failure. Others studies also suggest an association between breastfeeding and postpartum depression; the direction of this association is still unclear. Breastfeeding can promote hormonal processes that protect mothers against postpartum depression by attenuating cortisol response to stress. It can also reduce the risk of postpartum depression, by helping the regulation of sleep and wake patterns for mother and child, improving mother's self-efficacy and her emotional involvement with the child, reducing the child's temperamental difficulties, and promoting a better interaction between mother and child. Studies demonstrate that breastfeeding can protect mothers from postpartum depression, and are starting to clarify which biological and psychological processes may explain this protection. However, there are still equivocal results in the literature that may be explained by the methodological limitations presented by some studies.

Adolescence is often a period of onset for internalizing and externalizing problems. At the same time, adolescent maturation and increasing autonomy from parents push for changes in family functioning. Even though theoretically expected links among the changes in family functioning and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems exist, studies examining this link on the within-family level are lacking. This longitudinal, pre-registered, and open-science study, examined the within-family dynamic longitudinal associations among family functioning, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Greek adolescents (N = 480, M_age = 15.73, 47.9% girls, at Wave 1) completed self-report questionnaires, three times in 12 months. Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models (RI-CLPM) were applied; such models explicitly disentangle between-family differences from within-family processes, thereby offering a more stringent examination of within-family hypotheses. Results showed that family functioning was not significantly associated with internalizing or externalizing problems, on the within-family level. Also, alternative standard Cross-Lagged Panel Models (CLPM) were applied; such models have been recently criticized for failing to explicitly disentangle between-family variance from within-family variance, but they have been the standard approach to investigating questions of temporal ordering. Results from these analyses offered evidence that adolescents with higher internalizing and externalizing problems compared to their peers, tended to be those who later experienced worse family functioning, but not vice versa. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The association between the couple relationship and the mothers' and fathers' psychological adjustment to the transition to parenthood has been examined in the literature. However, the direction of effects between these variables has not been extensively explored. This study aimed to assess the direction of effects between mothers' and fathers' positive and negative interactions and anxiety and depression symptoms trajectories over the transition to parenthood. A sample of 129 couples (N = 258) completed self-report measures of positive and negative interactions, anxiety and depression symptoms at each trimester of pregnancy, at childbirth, and at 3- and 30-months postpartum. Dyadic growth curve models were performed using multilevel modeling. Whereas anxiety and depression showed no moderation effect on positive and negative interactions over time, negative interaction moderated depression from 3- to 30-months postpartum. Mothers and fathers with high negative interaction scores experienced a steeper increase in depression from 3- to 30-months postpartum. Additionally, gender moderated the effect of positive interaction on anxiety from 3- to 30-months postpartum. Fathers with low positive interaction scores experienced an increase in anxiety, whereas fathers with high positive interaction scores and mothers with high or low positive interaction scores did not experience changes in anxiety from 3- to 30-months postpartum. Despite the longitudinal aspect of the models, a possible causal relationship need to be taken with caution. Our results suggest that mothers' and fathers' positive and negative interactions affect their anxiety and depression symptoms trajectories: negative interaction raises mothers' and fathers' depression symptoms and positive interaction prevents the increase of fathers' anxiety symptoms over the postpartum period.

Implementing parenting programs in real-world community settings is fundamental to making effective programs widely available and consequently improving the lives of children and their families. Despite the literature acknowledging that the high-quality implementation of parenting programs is particularly challenging in real-world community settings, little is known about how the programs are implemented in these settings. This scoping review followed the methodological framework described by the Joanna Briggs Institute to map evidence on how evidence-based parenting programs have been implemented under real-world conditions. A systematic search of 12 scientific databases, gray literature, and the reference lists of the included studies identified 1918 records, of which 145 were included in the review. Fifty-three parenting programs were identified in studies documenting implementation in real-world community settings worldwide. Most studies included families in psychosocial risk engaged with family-support agencies. The qualitative synthesis identified several implementation outcomes, adaptations, barriers, and facilitators. Most studies reported a maximum of two implementation outcomes, mainly fidelity and acceptability. Providers frequently made adaptations, mainly to bring down barriers and to tailor the program to improve its fit. Findings highlight the need for a more detailed description of the implementation of programs, with greater consistency in terminology, operationalization, and measurement of implementation outcomes across studies. This will promote a more transparent, consistent, and accurate evaluation and reporting of implementation and increase the public health impact of parenting programs. Future studies should also assess the impact of adaptations and the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of programs in real-world community settings.

Little is known about the development of fathers’ parenting self-efficacy during the transition to parenthood. To analyse (1) fathers’ parenting self-efficacy developmental path and (2) the effects...