PARENTING STRESS, ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND TEMPERAMENT VALUES IN FATHERS AND MOTHER OF TWINS AT 3 AND 12 MONTHS

Many studies discuss the relation between postpartum depression, anxiety, stress and temperament outcomes in mothers, less in fathers and even less the relation between these 4 factors in parents of twins. If transition to parenthood can be a critical period for a singleton parent, to be a twins parents it’s more complex. For this reason, the aim of our contribute is to examine the role of parenting stress, anxiety, postpartum depression and infant temperament concerning parents of twins during the first year of life of the children. Our sample is composed of 39 Mothers (M) and Father (F) at three months after delivery (M mean age 36.6; DS 4.5; range 29-48; F mean age 38.6; DS 5.4; range 29-52). 28 mother and 16 father have an academic title. 38 couples declared to have strongly desired the pregnancy, instead only for one it was unexpected but desired. In 28 couples the pregnancy was the result of a pharmacological treatment or FIVET/ICSI. In terms of postpartum depression, anxiety and parenting stress, significant correlations were found in mothers between depression/anxiety and distress and stronger level of correlation in fathers. The level of depression and anxiety are significantly associated with some scales of the IBQ for fathers (i.e. distress to limitation/EPDS – r=.468; STAI-S r=.646; STAI-T r=.496 p < 0.01) instead for mothers only one create a correlation (distress to limitation/EPDS – r=.414; STAI-S r=.437; STAI-T r=.467p < 0.05). Some differences have been underlines between 3 and 12 months in relation to anxiety, depression, parental stress and temperament of the children. The comparison between twins highlighted correlations between IBQ scales (range from .470 and .840). With regard of the parental stress the subscale “difficult child” is the only one that does create a correlation. The results underline the complexity of relations between these 4 factors, particularly in families where new born are twins, and how they effect on children development.