Trajectories of maternal postpartum distress and employment profiles: implications for parenting

This study examined the roles of growth patterns of early maternal distress and employment profiles in subsequent parenting with 1,337 Korean mothers participating in the Panel Study on Korean Children. Data collected from childbirth to 14 months postpartum were used. Using latent class growth modeling, we identified three trajectories that had their unique timing and course of distress symptoms: consistently low distressed (70.7%), early and briefly distressed (10.4%), and later and chronically distressed (18.9%). Mothers in the consistent low distressed and in the early and briefly distressed groups exhibited a significantly more positive parenting, compared with mothers in the later and chronically distressed group. Further, we found that positive associations of asymptomatic status with parenting were attenuated by working in the late postpartum. This finding underscores the importance of considering the relation between maternal mental health and employment in accounting for parenting in the transition period to motherhood.