Background: The transition to motherhood is associated with the emergence or exacerbation of symptoms of emotional distress disorders for many women. Although adolescence is a developmental period of increased risk for mood disorders and emotion dysregulation among women, little is known about changes in emotional distress across the early postpartum years among adolescent mothers. We tested the hypothesis that symptoms of depression and borderline personality disorder (BPD) would differ between pregnant and non-pregnant adolescents, and that these differences would be maintained in the three years following delivery.
Methods: Data were drawn from the longitudinal Pittsburgh Girls Study: 307 adolescent mothers (14-18 years) and 307 never-pregnant adolescents, matched on age, race and household receipt of public assistance, self-reported severity of depression and BPD across four years.
Results: There were no group differences on depression severity during or after pregnancy. However, compared with their non-pregnant peers, pregnant adolescents reported more severe BPD symptoms even after comorbid depression symptoms were accounted for, and this group difference was sustained during the following three years.
Limitations: Findings are based on a community sample rather than a clinical sample, which may have limited the severity of symptoms captured.
Conclusions: Findings suggest that adolescent mothers are a high-risk group for BPD symptoms during and after pregnancy, highlighting pregnancy as a critical window of opportunity to reduce morbidity among young mothers and potential negative effects on the next generation.
Keywords: adolescent pregnancy; borderline personality disorder symptoms; depression; postpartum.
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