High worry in pregnancy predicts postpartum depression.

Background: Anxiety in pregnancy is one of the strongest risk factors for postpartum depression (PPD), and high worry is a hallmark of many anxiety disorders. We sought to determine whether the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), designed for the general population, could identify high worry in pregnancy and predict the development of PPD symptoms (PPDS).

Methods: We followed women (N = 295) with and without mood and anxiety disorders across pregnancy and up to 6 months postpartum.

Using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire in the Peripartum.

Pathological worry is a major feature of anxiety in the peripartum, and we sought to examine the factor structure, validity, and reliability in the peripartum of a scale used to measure worry in the general population (the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, PSWQ). Pregnant/postpartum women ( = 295) were followed at up to six visits, which included completion of the PSWQ and other psychological scales. Principal components analysis, descriptive statistics, paired -tests, chi-square tests, and mixed linear regression models were used to evaluate scale reliability and validity.