Monster in the Crib

Child-rearing is not an easy task. In particular, women who work and are
dissatisfied with work are 3.7 times more likely to be clinically depressed
than women who were unemployed or were satisfied at work. Thus for women,
it appears young infants are a risk factor for developing depression and
that lack of job satistfaction makes them vulnerable to depression.  Their
main conclusion claims that amount of time mothers spend working is the
biggest factor affecting depression; the more time spent working, the
greater the likelihood of becoming depressed.

Interestingly, the journal article mentions studies of postpartum
depression (after childbirth) increasing during years 1-2, considered the
"most demanding" and that after ages 2-3, "the situation improves." Thus,
the researchers studied women who were exposed to the greatest difficulties
in motherhood and seeing how they coped. Instead of simply recording
women's attitudes and symptoms of depression, I believe it would have been
more interesting had some form of counseling/family therapy treatment been
introduced as a subgroup to study. If successful, the results would
highlight the need for post-natal care, and if not, the results would
stress further, the potential risks of developing depression during
toddler's first 2 years.
It is somewhat disconcerting to realize that more and more mothers are
having to work more and more hours, thus having less time for young
children, and also increasing incidence of depression.  Studies such as
this could help persuade more companies and corporations to realize the
importance of adequate and proper child-rearing, and how greatly work
impacts upon new mothers.