4 in 10 Mothers of Twins Experience Depression... 38% of Fathers Also Show Symptoms

Twin Births Saw Significant Increase Until Mid-2010s
Influenced by Older Maternal Age and Spread of Artificial Insemination

Reference photo to aid understanding of the article. Asia Economy DB

It has been found that 30% of mothers within three months of giving birth to twins experience severe depression. On June 23, Yonhap News reported that the Korea Population, Health and Welfare Association released the results of a depression screening conducted from May 23 to June 11 among 459 parents who are either pregnant with twins or raising twins. The screening tools used were the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), which is used by the Central Infertility and Pregnant Women Psychological Counseling Center, and the EPDS-K (Korean version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale).

According to the announcement by the Korea Population, Health and Welfare Association, 20.4% of pregnant women with twins were found to suffer from depression. Of these, 9.3% had mild depression, and 8.3% had severe depression. Among mothers within 12 weeks of giving birth to twins, 39.5% were diagnosed with depression. In particular, the proportion of severe depression was 30.2%, which is nearly four times higher than that of pregnant women. The rate of mild depression was 9.3%.

When including mothers raising twins within 12 weeks after childbirth, 55.1% were found to have depression. The most common was mild depressive symptoms at 27.3%, followed by mild depression at 11.5%, severe depression at 9.7%, and moderate depression at 6.6%. In addition, among fathers raising twins, 37.7% were experiencing depressive symptoms. The rates were 26.0% for mild depressive symptoms, 9.1% for mild depression, and 2.6% for severe depression.

Self-Assessment Results of Depression in Parents of Twins. Korea Population, Health and Welfare Association

According to the population trend survey data released by Statistics Korea at the end of last year, the number of twin births has been on the decline since the mid-2010s, but it has increased significantly compared to the past. The number of twins born peaked at 16,166 in 2016, up from 8,108 in 1993, before decreasing to 12,622 last year. Here, the term "twins" includes not only twins in the usual sense but also triplets or more. This refers to "multiple births," a term used in Statistics Korea data and academic papers. Considering that the number of triplets or more is not large and that the term "multiple births" may be unfamiliar, the article uses "twins" as a general term.

The increase in twin births up to the mid-2010s is unusual when considering the overall trend of low birth rates. The total number of births steadily declined from 715,826 in 1993 to 230,028 last year, dropping to one-third of the previous figure. As a result, the proportion of twins among all births rose from 1.13% in 1993 to 5.81% in 2022. Although it dipped to 5.49% last year, this is still significantly higher compared to the 1990s, when the proportion remained in the 1% range throughout the decade.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.