Workplace Policies and Perinatal Depressive Symptoms Among Low‐Income Single and Partnered Working Mothers

• Published date: 01 October 2020
• Author: Katie Newkirk,Maureen Perry‐Jenkins,Holly B. Laws,Michelle Hien
• Date: 01 October 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12471

K N, M P-J, H B. L,  M H University

of Massachusetts–Amherst

Lessons from the Field.

Workplace Policies and Perinatal Depressive

Symptoms Among Low-Income Single and

Partnered Working Mothers

Objective: This study examined associations

between workplace policies and maternal

depression in the context of mothers’ relation-

ship status and job characteristics.

Background: The associations between work-

place policies and postpartum depressive

symptoms may differ based on contextual

factors that have received little attention in

the literature. In this study, these questions

are addressed in an understudied sample of

low-income working mothers.

Method: Participants included 95 employed,

low-income mothers who were recruited from

prenatal classes in southern New England.

Mothers’ self-reported data was collected at

ve time points from the third trimester of preg-

nancy through 12 months postpartum. Multilevel

structural equation modeling was used to test

all study hypotheses.

Results: Length of parental leave and neg-

ative spillover interacted to predict levels of

depressive symptoms, such that longer leave

mattered more in the context of high spillover.

A moderated mediation was found, whereby

Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine,

300 George St, Suite 775, New Haven, CT 06511 (Kather-

ine.Newkirk@yale.edu).

Key Words: depressive symptoms, low-wage workers,

parental leave, perinatal, spillover, workplace policies.

schedule exibility related to less of an increase

in depressive symptoms for single mothers,

whereas partnered mothers with greater

schedule exibility experienced an increase

in spillover, with no net benet to depression.

Conclusion: Contextual factors, such as moth-

ers’ relationship status and the level of spillover

on the job, can inuence whether and how much

different types of workplace policies can benet

maternal postpartum mental health.

Implications: Employers also may ease the

transition back to work after parental leave by

taking steps to minimize negative work-to-family

spillover for new mothers. More work needs to

be done to enable partnered mothers to expe-

rience the mental health benets of schedule

exibility policies.

Extensive research has shown that family-

friendly workplace policies, such as schedule

exibility and parental leave, are benecial for

working mothers’ mental health (Chatterji &

Markowitz, 2012; Dagher et al., 2011). Most

of what we know concerning what types of

policies are benecial has been studied in broad

populations, such as white-collar employees,

married workers (ignoring relationship status),

and among parents with children ranging in

age from infants to young adults. Consequently,

there is little known about how family-friendly

770 Family Relations 69 (October 2020): 770–778

DOI:10.1111/fare.12471