Few studies have examined the relationship between antenatal depression, anxiety

The gap

Evidence profile

Sourced from the stated research gap and limitations and abstract of the source papers, classified as general, drawn from work published between 2009 and 2026, spanning 3 journals. Those papers have been cited 121 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 3 representative gaps

• Maternal Child Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence: Effects on Perceptions of Infant Temperament and the Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation and Responsiveness (2026) · Journal of Family Violence · doi

  Most research does not examine how maternal experiences of different subtypes of child maltreatment affect perceptions of infant temperament. The measurement of intimate partner violence during pregnancy is problematic, with most research failing to assess IPV throughout pregnancy or using unstandardized measures.

  generalstated research gap
  Keywords: research does examine maternal experiences different subtypes child
• Mental health, coping strategies and help-seeking behaviours among women petty traders in Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria: a cross-sectional survey (2026) · BMC Women's Health · doi

  There are limitations in our study. We were unable to examine the effect of miscarriage, abortion, child death, and gender-based violence on females’ mental health in the current study. Past literature for instance, has sug- gested a link between gender-based violence (including emotional and physical abuse) during pregnancy and the incidence of psychiatric disorders [4, 49]. Relatively prevalent among socially and economically disadvan- taged women, factors such as bias against female ba- bies, role restrictions, as well as multi-generational households in which the daughter-in-law has little au- tonomy have been identified as possible risk factors for gender-based violence [4]; these factors however were not explored in this study. We were also unable to de- tect the cases of subclinical levels of depression, and panic disorder as the study did not establish these diag- noses. Estimation of age at first pregnancy was an ap- proximate made from subtracting the age of the first biological child from the respondent’s age and further deducting 1 year (as opposed to 9–10 months to ac- count for pregnancy). Given that not all pregnancies this may have resulted in an over- last 9 months, estimation of the prevalence of mental disorders during the postnatal period. Furthermore, as the CIDI does not contain a specific question targeted at female re- spondents with regards to reproductive events, we were not able to gauge a more precise pregnancy age. Add- itionally, we were not able to differentiate the effect of ageing and child birth on respondents’ mental health factors that can status, all of which are important impact women’s mental health [50]. The retrospective design of the current study also limits inference of causality. The low prevalence in the current sample warrants careful interpretation of results given the in- sufficient statistical power. Future studies can look into utilizing a prospective study design to better understand the impact of pregnancy on women’s mental health.

  generallimitationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: mental pregnancy health factors child gender based violence current women unable effect disorders female estimation
• Prevalence of Anxiety, Depression and Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women of Hyderabad, Pakistan (2009) · International Journal of Social Psychiatry · cited 121× · doi

  BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the relationship between antenatal depression, anxiety and domestic violence in pregnant women in developing countries, despite the World Health Organization's estimates that depressive disorders will be the second leading cause of the global disease burden by 2020.

  generalabstractevidence 5/5
  Keywords: background examined relationship antenatal depression anxiety domestic violence pregnant women developing countries despite world health

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