The Relationship Between Reduced Child Spacing and Depression in Mothers: A Cross-Sectional Study in Karachi, Pakistan.

This dataset contains de-identified, respondent-level survey data from a cross-sectional interviewer-administered study of mothers in Karachi, Pakistan. Each row represents one participant included in the primary analytic sample (n=187), with variables covering sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, education, household income, number of children), family support indicators (single-item Likert responses and derived binary recodes), and depressive symptom severity measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; item-level responses and total score). The dataset also includes reproductive history variables used to derive the primary exposure—birth interval between the two most recent live births in months—and a categorized spacing variable (<24 months, 24–32 months, ≥33 months). Important derived outcome variables include probable depression (PHQ-9 ≥10), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥5), ordinal severity categories, and the continuous PHQ-9 score. Data values are provided as numeric codes with accompanying variable labels and a codebook describing response options, coding decisions, and derived variables. The dataset can be reused to reproduce the analyses reported in the associated manuscript and to support secondary analyses on correlates of current maternal depressive symptoms and social determinants of mental health in urban South Asian settings. All direct identifiers were removed prior to deposit; the dataset contains no names, contact details, addresses, or exact dates of birth. Use is subject to standard ethical considerations for secondary analysis of de-identified human participant data.