# Food insecurity and postnatal depression: the mediating effect of perceived social support among women in Khayelitsha, South Africa

## TL;DR

This study shows that food insecurity worsens postnatal depression in South African women, mainly by reducing their perceived social support.

## Contribution

The study identifies perceived social support as a key mediator linking food insecurity to postnatal depression.

## Key findings

- Food insecurity reduced the probability of depression improvement by 15%.
- 48% of this effect was mediated through reduced social support.
- Antenatal visits and suicidality showed no significant mediating effects.

## Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms through which poverty influences perinatal depression can provide insight into how to develop interventions to improve maternal mental health. To address this question, we aim to estimate indirect effects of important mediators on the causal relationship between food insecurity and symptoms of postnatal depression.

We used data from the control arm of the Africa Focus on Intervention Research for Mental health – South Africa (AFFIRM-SA) trial that included pregnant women with perinatal depression. Interventional effects (used for models that may have multiple correlated mediators) were used to decompose the total effect of food insecurity captured at baseline on symptoms of perinatal depression reducing by at least 40% (using the 17-item HDRS instrument - yes/no) at three months after delivery of the baby, into the following indirect effects: number of antenatal visits attended; suicidality at eight months gestation; and levels of social support captured at eight months gestation using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.

Food insecurity was associated with a 15% reduced probability of symptoms of depression improving at three months post-delivery (-0·151, bias-corrected 95% CI: − 0.267, -0·032), of which 48% was mediated through reduced levels of social support in women exposed to food insecurity (-0.073: bias-corrected 95% CI: -0.146, -0.029). There was no conclusive evidence to support the mediating effects of attending antenatal visits and suicidality.

Our findings suggest that providing social support can help to reduce symptoms of postnatal depression. Future research should explore developing and evaluating a package of care for pregnant women with perinatal depression that improves food security and levels of social support. This research suggests that policy makers and practitioners have a renewed focus on increasing social support systems for women during the perinatal period, especially in cases of food insecurity.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00127-025-02986-1.