Maternity blues
Maternity blues, also known as baby blues and postpartum blues, is a transient condition that 75-80% of mothers could experience shortly after childbirth with a wide variety of symptoms which generally involve mood lability, tearfulness, and some mild anxiety and depressive symptoms. Baby blues is not postpartum depression, unless it is abnormally severe.After the placenta is delivered, the placental "hormone factory" shuts down causing radical changes in hormone levels, and the woman can suffer symptoms due to withdrawal from the high pregnancy levels of estrogen, progesterone and endorphins. Combined with this shift in hormone levels is the physical, mental and emotional exhaustion - as well as sleep deprivation typical of parenting a newborn. All of these factors contribute to the condition.
Relationships for incarcerated individuals
Not only are there large and growing numbers of parents in prison or jail, the effects of incarceration on their familial relationships have associations with strong negative outcomes. For example, many women who are incarcerated endorse being single mothers, and are often labeled as inadequate providers for their children during and after their time in prison or jail. In fact, 52% of incarcerated mothers report living in a single-parent household compared to 19% of incarcerated fathers. Unlike many male inmates, whose children are likely to remain in the care of their wives or girlfriends, incarcerated females are at very high risk of losing their children to the State. The separation and lack of contact with their children that these women endorse has been described as damaging to their mental health. Studies on mothers post-release have underscored this conceptualization by demonstrating that healthy mother-child relationships have positive impacts on depression symptoms and self-esteem. In other words, healthy relationships with their children appear to improve women's emotional health during and after their time involved in the justice system.