The transition to parenthood among immigrant parents: A mixed-methods investigation of the prevalence and psychosocial determinants of perinatal psychological distress
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Expectant parents that have immigrated or come from an immigrant background may face a heightened risk of perinatal distress due to migration-related stressors and barriers to accessing healthcare. Prior research has overlooked psychosocial factors contributing to perinatal distress among immigrant parents, particularly fathers. This dissertation aimed to investigate the prevalence, lived experiences, and psychosocial determinants of perinatal psychological distress and well-being among parents with an immigrant background. Manuscript one describes the prevalence and early determinants of antenatal depression among recent, long-term immigrant and Canadian-born women. The prevalence of depression was highest for recent immigrants. Among recent immigrants, multiparity, stress and pregnancy-specific anxiety in early pregnancy increased the risk of antenatal depression. Among long-term immigrants, stress in the first trimester was associated with antenatal depression. These findings indicate that women are at risk for antenatal depression, particularly recent immigrant women, and modifiable psychological risk factors may be identified early in pregnancy. Manuscript two uses a qualitative approach to explore 1st and 2nd-generation immigrant parents’ lived experiences of social stressors and facilitators of perinatal psychological well-being. Three key themes emerged: cultural pressures, health and social service access, and discrimination. First-generation immigrant parents reported greater acculturative stress and ethnic discrimination concerns related to their distress. Among men, barriers include feeling as though the paternal role was devalued by society and not receiving consideration during healthcare. Results suggest that parents from immigrant backgrounds perceive social factors to hinder or facilitate perinatal well-being. Our findings highlight the need for continued efforts to address discrimination, bolstering support for 1st-generation immigrant parents, and to address gender disparities.Manuscript three describes the prevalence of perinatal psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress), and examined antenatal psychosocial determinants of postpartum psychological distress among immigrant (1st and 2nd-generation) and Canadian-born fathers and mothers. Heightened levels of antenatal distress were present among parents regardless of immigrant status and increased at postpartum. A greater severity of postpartum depressive symptoms and prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms at two months postpartum were found among immigrant mothers. Among immigrant fathers, family-work conflict (FWC) increased the risk of depression, and discrimination was associated with stress. For immigrant mothers, FWC increased the risk of depression. FWC and dyadic adjustment was associated with anxiety and stress, and discrimination was associated with stress. Our findings provide further evidence that men are at risk for perinatal distress, and highlight the importance of modifiable psychosocial risk factors for perinatal psychological distress in immigrant and non-immigrant parents. This dissertation contributes to knowledge on the prevalence and modifiable facilitators and barriers of perinatal psychological well-being, in particular among immigrants. This work can inform tailored, evidence-based programs and policies to address the mental health needs of immigrant and non-immigrant parents and reduce gender disparities in perinatal distress treatment
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.008 | 0.008 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".