Implications of Family Income Dynamics for Women’s Depressive Symptoms During the First 3 Years After Childbirth
Eric Dearing, PhD,
Beck A. Taylor, PhD and
Kathleen McCartney, PhD
At the time the study began, Eric Dearing was with Judge Baker Children’s Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass; he now is with the Department of Psychology, University of Wyoming, Laramie. At the time the study began, Beck A. Taylor was with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass; he now is with Baylor University, Waco, Tex. Kathleen McCartney is with the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
FIGURE 1——Average within-person patterns of change in women’s depressive symptoms and family income in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care.
Note. On average, women experienced increases of approximately $12 100 (SD = $15 850) in their annualized income and decreases of approximately 1.7 points (SD = 2.98) in their depressive symptoms between 1 and 36 months postpartum.
