Table 1 Background profile of the respondents at third trimester of pregnancy (in percent unless otherwise specified)
| Â | East Coast | West coast | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mothers Na=450 | Fathers Na=440 | p value | Na | Mothers N = 454 | Na | Fathers N = 143 | p value | |
Socioeconomic profile | ||||||||
 Age, mean (SD) | 29.3(5.0) | 32.3(6.1) | < 0.001 | 448 | 28.9(4.1) | 134 | 30.1(5.1) | 0.005 |
 Race |  |  |  | 453 |  | 138 |  |  |
  Malay | 94.7 | 82.7 | < 0.001 |  | 91.8 |  | 89.9 | 0.469 |
 Chinese/Indian/aboriginal | 5.3 | 17.3 |  |  | 8.2 |  | 10.1 |  |
 Religion |  |  |  | 453 |  | 138 |  |  |
  Islam | 94.9 | 94.8 | 0.943 |  | 92.5 |  | 94.9 | 0.325 |
  Hindu/Buddhist/Christian | 5.1 | 5.2 |  |  | 7.5 |  | 5.1 |  |
 Education |  |  |  | 449 |  | 132 |  |  |
  Primary | 4.0 | 4.1 | 0.012 |  | 0.4 |  | 2.3 | 0.136 |
  Secondary | 52.0 | 61.6 |  |  | 31.6 |  | 31.1 |  |
  Tertiary | 44.0 | 34.3 |  |  | 67.9 |  | 66.7 |  |
 Occupation |  |  |  | 454 |  | 134 |  |  |
  Government employee | 24.0 | 26.1 | < 0.001 |  | 19.6 |  | 20.9 | < 0.001 |
  Non-government employee | 19.8 | 41.8 |  |  | 37.0 |  | 57.5 |  |
  Self employed | 5.6 | 31.8 |  |  | 9.0 |  | 21.6 |  |
 Home maker/unemployed | 50.7 | 0.2 |  |  | 34.4 |  | 0.0 |  |
Obstetric information | ||||||||
 Parity |  |  |  | 454 |  |  |  |  |
  Primipara | 31.8 | – |  |  | 40.1 |  | – |  |
  Multipara | 68.2 |  |  |  | 59.9 |  |  |  |
 Planned current pregnancy | 49.1 | 53.9 | 0.156 | 449 | 45.0 | 129 | 45.0 | 0.996 |
 Sex preference |  |  |  | 449 |  | 131 |  |  |
  Boy | 14.4 | 27.0 | < 0.001 |  | 19.4 |  | 28.2 | < 0.001 |
  Girl | 16.7 | 12.3 |  |  | 17.8 |  | 4.6 |  |
  No preference | 68.9 | 60.7 |  |  | 62.8 |  | 67.2 |  |
 Social support |  |  |  | 453 |  | 143 |  |  |
  Low | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.083 |  | 0.9 |  | 0.0 | 0.090 |
  Moderate | 35.1 | 42.3 |  |  | 23.4 |  | 31.5 |  |
  High | 63.6 | 56.8 |  |  | 75.7 |  | 68.5 |  |
 Family support, mean (SD) | 22.5(3.5) | 21.8(3.7) | 0.004 |  | 23.4(3.5) |  | 22.4(3.9) | 0.003 |
 Friends support, mean (SD) | 20.2(4.1) | 19.7(3.9) | 0.079 |  | 20.9(3.9) |  | 19.5(4.1) | < 0.001 |
 Significant other support, mean (SD) | 22.9(4.5) | 22.6(4.5) | 0.412 |  | 23.6(4.2) |  | 24.2(4.5) | 0.151 |
Intimate partner violence | ||||||||
 Poor relations with spouse | 15.6 | 14.1 | 0.213 | 452 | 22.1 | 132 | 4.5 | 0.012 |
 Physical abuse ever | 2.7 | – |  | 452 | 2.7 |  | – |  |
 Physical abuse during current pregnancy | 1.3 | – |  | 453 | 1.5 |  | – |  |
Experienced stressful life event | 13.6 | 20.2 | 0.008 | 452 | 18.1 | 142 | 35.2 | < 0.001 |
Previous history of mental illness | Â | Â | Â | 448 | Â | 126 | Â | Â |
 Previous depressive symptoms | 3.6 | 2.0 | 0.173 |  | 12.7 |  | 7.1 | 0.083 |
 Depressive symptoms in earlier pregnancy | 6.7 | 2.7 | 0.006 |  | 12.3 |  | 8.0 | 0.182 |