Discussion
Our study examined predictive factors of maternal role, including prenatal depression, postpartum depression, and infant temperament, within a process model. The results of our serial mediation suggest that each variable contributes to maternal role in an ascending fashion. In other words, prenatal depressionincreases the risk ofpostpartumdepression, which increases the risk of difficult infant temperament, which increases the risk of negative maternal role evaluation. Implications of these results suggest the benefit of multiple intervention targets to break the causal sequence of events leading to negative effects on maternal role. This linkage of relationships provides support for upstream
process interventions, such that an intervention to reduce prenatal depression may have indirect negative effects on maternal role via its effects on postpartum depression and negative infant temperament.