Abstract
Changes in economic, social, and living situations make the postpartum period especially challenging. Despite the growing need to study postpartum mothers' quality of life to determine how to buffer against risk, a vast majority of studies in this area have focused on what negatively impacts quality of life. The current study sought to determine whether factors such as positive parenting, family functioning and resilience positively predict quality of life when controlling for annual household income, depressive symptomatology and posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Using hierarchical regression, it was confirmed that positive parenting and family functioning significantly contribute to quality of life, but resilience contributes above and beyond these factors, all while controlling for annual household income, depressive symptomatology and posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Results indicate that fostering resilience in postpartum mothers may be essential to promoting greater life satisfaction, especially in the face of maternal mental health symptoms. Limitations and implications are discussed.