Resilience resources, life stressors, and postpartum depressive symptoms in a community sample of low and middle‐income Black, Latina, and White mothers

Abstract Resilience resources refer to factors that protect against the physical and mental health effects of stress exposure. This study used a cross‐sectional design to test whether three individual‐level resilience resources—mastery, self‐esteem, and perceived social support—moderated associations between prenatal major life stressors and postpartum depressive symptoms at approximately 8 weeks postpartum. Participants were 2510 low‐ and middle‐income women enrolled after the birth of a baby in a multi‐site study of five communities in the United States. At approximately 8 weeks postpartum, participants were interviewed in their homes to assess the three resilience resources, symptoms of depression, and major life stressors that had occurred during the pregnancy. The results of path analyses revealed that mastery and self‐esteem moderated the positive association between prenatal life stressors and postpartum depressive symptoms adjusting for race/ethnicity, partner status, years of education, and household income. Perceived social support was associated with fewer postpartum depressive symptoms but did not moderate the association between life stressors and depressive symptoms. Higher levels of two personal resilience resources, mastery and self‐esteem, attenuated the association between prenatal life stressors and early postpartum depressive symptoms in a large, predominantly low‐income multi‐site community sample. These findings highlight the protective nature of individual‐level resilience resources in the early postpartum period when maternal adjustment shapes parent and child health outcomes.