Interpersonal factors in female depression

Abstract

The quality of significative relationships and their development throughout the life cycle is considered of great importance in the understanding of female depression. This study was designed to test whether recall of parental rearing (Parental Bonding Instrument), perception of relationship with partner (Dyadic Adjustment Scale) and Social Support (Mannheim interview of Social Support) differs significantly between two groups of women : one with non bipolar affective disorder (DSM III R) compared with another (control) of healthy women from a primary practice setting. A relationship with low mother-child affection, a dyadic relationship mainly characterized by poor cohesion and low everyday psychological support from the social network were the risk factors that best differentiated depressed women from those in the control group.