Association between social relationship of mentors and depressive symptoms in first-time mothers during the transition from pregnancy to 6-months postpartum.

Background: First-time motherhood is characterized by high psychosocial distress, which untreated, has serious consequences. Informal social support provided by specially trained mentors may be protective against postpartum depressive symptoms but may vary by women's social relationship with the mentor. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of types of mentors on women's depressive symptoms between late pregnancy to 6-months postpartum and the characteristics of women associated with mentor type.