The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between depressive symptoms and other qualities in mothers’ lives in the first year after having a child. The qualities in question were positive and negative coparenting, cortisol levels, sleep fragmentation and total sleep time. The present study utilized data collected in Project SIESTA II, being conducted by Dr. Douglas Teti at Penn State University. One hundred and sixty-seven mothers and their babies were recruited for this study. At milestones of months 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12, measurements were taken and mothers filled out questionnaires that were then the basis of the data for the project. Major findings of this study included the decline of depressive symptoms and sleep fragmentation over the 11-month period. Because total sleep time remained stable, we can assume that mothers’ sleep becomes more efficient, getting the same amount of sleep with fewer interruptions. Additionally, depressive symptoms were positively correlated with negative coparenting and negatively correlated with positive coparenting. Infant temperament appears to be an important factor not included in these analyses that affects both depression and the quality of coparenting. Future studies should be conducted to further understand the role infant temperament has in the relationship between depression and coparenting.
