The case for investigating postpartum depression in lesbians and bisexual women.

摘要

As many as 19.2% of new mothers suffer from major or minor postpartum depression (PPD) within 3 months of childbirth (Gavin et al., 2005). With approximately one third of lesbians between the ages of 18 and 44 giving birth (Gates, Badgett, Macomber, & Chambers, 2007), the prevalence of PPD among them is not inconsequential. Already facing a surfeit of vulnerabilities based on their sexual orientation, namely heterosexism (i.e., nonheterosexual delegitimization; Herek, 1990) from their families, service providers, and the larger society, the prevalence among lesbian mothers may be even higher, an assertion supported by the findings of Ross, Steele, Goldfinger, and Strike (2007), discussed later. Despite these glaring statistics, disproportionately little is understood about PPD among lesbians. A search in eight psychological, sociological, and medical research databases using the keywords "postpartum or postnatal" and "depress*" and "lesbian," and limited only to scholarly, peer-reviewed works, yielded just seven hits, all published within the last 6 years. Clearly, more scholarship on this issue is needed.