Life After Birth: Postpartum Depression Symptoms among Mexican Immigrant Mothers in Tucson, Arizona

Abstract

Since the 1970s, the increase in women’s participation in immigration processes in North America enabled the emergence of a critical feminist perspective on migration studies. The following decades saw the heightened border enforcement and militarization of the borderlands seeking to shift immigration gateways into more deserted and dangerous zones. The feminization of migration opened up new venues of social research to examine the multiple effects of anti-immigrant policies on the lives and livelihoods of immigrants and their communities. The study of immigrants physical and mental wellbeing deserves further research to improve our understanding of the social determinants of their health. This dissertation explores the risk factors of experiencing Postpartum Depression (PPD) Symptoms by Mexican immigrant mothers living in Tucson, Arizona. The perspective of my study challenges the conception of women with PPD as another statistic, and critically examines how the socio-political climate of Arizona might increase the risks for experiencing PPD symptoms by Mexican immigrant mothers. Yet, drawing from the contributions of a critical qualitative methodology, I also explore their agency to overcome the multiple barriers to recover their mental and emotional health. This dissertation research provides significant new insights and directions to improve our understanding of mental health issues faced by Mexican immigrant mothers while promoting the early and effective identification of PPD symptoms to make available adequate treatment and support. Overall, the theoretical and empirical contributions of this research will inform public policy makers, scholars, public health professionals, local organizations; and more significantly, raise awareness on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders that might be experienced by members of immigrant communities while connecting them to local resources available in Tucson, Arizona.