Young mums "more likely" to suffer depression in pregnancy » Communities » 24dash.com

Women who become mothers as teenagers or in their early 20s are more likely to suffer depression during pregnancy, a study said today.

Children born to women who became mothers between the ages of 16 to 22 are also more likely to have emotional problems and a lower than average IQ.

This is particularly true if the mother was depressed during pregnancy, or smoked when carrying the child or did not breastfeed, the research found.

The South London Child Development Study included 176 families and recorded how a child developed during an 11 year period.

The families were split into three groups, based on when the women had their first child, with 31 teenage mothers, aged 16 to 19, 56 early 20s mothers, aged 20 to 22, and 89 older mothers, aged 23 to 38.

The study found that 41.9% of teenage mums had ante-natal depression, compared to 35.7% mothers in their early 20s and 18% of women in the group aged 23 to 38.

The research also found 19.4% of children born to teenage mothers, 23.2% of children born to early 20s mothers and 9% of children born to older mothers had an emotional disorder at age 11.

Cerith Waters of Cardiff University, who presented the study's findings at a British Psychological Society conference at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, said: "Young mums can be very vulnerable and it is clear from these results that they need much more support, not only after the birth, but before as well.

"Programmes aimed at helping young mothers need to be multifaceted, and they need to begin during pregnancy in order to address both the mothers and the child's needs."

The families were recruited from two GP practices in South London in 1986, when the mothers were pregnant with the child featured in the study.

During the study the mothers and children undertook psychiatric and IQ tests with information also being included from school tests.

The South London Child Development Study is based at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "We recognise the importance of effective and early support for women with ante-natal and post-natal depression. High quality maternity services can greatly improve the care of young parents and their babies.

"All professionals involved in the care of women immediately following childbirth need to be able to distinguish normal emotional and psychological changes from significant mental health problems, and to refer women for support according to their needs.

"We have also funded a national project lead for perinatal mental health who will be looking at how maternity and mental health services can work better together at a regional level to ensure high quality care."