Literature Review

The study in the article I am reviewing honed in on depression levels in teenage

mothers post-partum, as it relates to social support. It was a longitudinal quantitative

study that studied teenage mothers at baseline (shortly after enrollment) twelve weeks

post-enrollment, and one-year post-enrollment. The study occurred at an “urban, hospital-

based, teen tot program (895),” and participants were given the option to join the study at

their first visit to the teen tot clinic, and filled out two questionnaires as part of their

consent to be a part of the study.

The first questionnaire they filled out was a modified version of the CES-DC, a

series of questions developed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies for analyzing

depression symptoms. This scale included twenty self-report items, which inquired about

the patient’s symptoms in the previous week. A score of greater than sixteen would mean

the patient was likely depressed. The second was a Social Support questionnaire,

developed as a joint effort between the University of North Carolina and Duke

University. This scale was essentially used to measure the level of social support the

patient believed they were getting, whether that support came from parents, the baby’s

father, religious affiliation, or elsewhere. The higher the score on this questionnaire, the

better social support the patient believed they were receiving. As compensation for

enrolling in the study and taking the questionnaires, patients were given $10. At baseline,

the age of the baby ranged from a few days old to ten months old.

It was hypothesized that greater social support would yield patients with lower incidences

of depression, and vice-versa. Surprisingly, the study gave results somewhat to the

contrary. It was discovered that lower levels of depression at baseline did not have a
positive correlation with support levels. Essentially, mothers who believed they had high

levels of social support at baseline did not see any change in their mental state. However,

those mothers who did have depressive symptoms at baseline showed less social support,

which supported the hypothesis.

While it was difficult for this study to have a bias, approximately one quarter of

the participants were lost to follow-up after one year, which could yield an attrition bias.

In addition, the study was conducted in an urban environment, which generally provides

a higher rate of teenage pregnancy, in addition to difficult living conditions for the baby

and mother. Therefore, this could be seen as a bias as well.

Overall, although this study did not entirely produce the results hypothesized, it

did prove that there is indeed a correlation between the depression levels in teenage

mothers as related to social support. Although mothers with high social support did not

see marked changes in their mental status, it did hold true that social support does help to

prevent depression. Conversely, low social support did tend to contribute to higher levels

of depression. These mothers who exhibit low levels of social support are at a higher risk

for depression, and should seek help if possible, in order to gain support for themselves,

providing a better life for them as well as their child.