Prevalence, influencing factors of postpartum depression among parents and the moderating role of empathy

Aims To investigate postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms in mothers and fathers during the early postpartum period, and to examine the moderating role of empathy dimensions in the dyadic transmission of PPD symptoms between parents.Design This longitudinal study recruited 325 parent–infant dyads from two tertiary hospitals in Lanzhou, China, between March and November 2023. Data were collected at 3 days (T1) and 6–8 weeks (T2) postpartum using the General Information Survey, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and the shortened Marital Satisfaction Scale.Results The prevalence of maternal PPD symptoms was 28.3% at T1 and 42.1% at T2; paternal prevalence was 25.5% at T1 and 17.8% at T2. Maternal PPD symptoms at T2 were positively correlated with T1 symptoms (r = 0.535, p < 0.001) and Personal Distress (r = 0.362, p < 0.001), and negatively correlated with marital satisfaction (r = −0.295, p < 0.001). Paternal PPD symptoms at T2 were positively correlated with T1 symptoms (r = 0.541, p < 0.001), Fantasy (r = 0.135, p < 0.05) and Personal Distress (r = 0.327, p < 0.001), and negatively correlated with marital satisfaction (r = −0.334, p < 0.001). Moderation analysis showed that paternal Fantasy positively moderated the association between maternal PPD symptoms at T1 and paternal PPD symptoms at T2 (β = 0.141, p < 0.05).Conclusions Maternal PPD symptoms increased from T1 to T2, whereas paternal symptoms decreased. Fathers with higher Fantasy scores are more susceptible to maternal PPD symptoms and may develop PPD symptoms themselves.