Postpartum stress as a predictor of women's minor psychiatric morbidity.

The purpose of this study was to predict women's minor psychiatric morbidity after they had childbirth as measured repeatedly at the first, the third, and the fifth weeks of the postpartum period. The Chinese Health Questionnaire, the Postpartum Stress Scale, the Zung's Self-rating Depression Scale and Anxiety Scale, and the Social Support Scale were used at the three points of time. A total of 526 women in Taiwan participated in the study. The results indicated that postpartum stress and anxiety are important predictors for postpartum women's minor psychiatric morbidity at three points in time.