Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria:

• Studies exploring as a primary research question or objective mental health and wellbeing experiences of young mothers (age under 20 at time of pregnancy, and under 25 at the time of the research) in pregnancy and the post-natal period (up to one year after birth).

• Studies where primary evidence from young mothers foregrounds their mental health and wellbeing experiences in pregnancy and the postnatal period (up to one year after birth).

• Studies which employ qualitative methods (pure or mixed methods) of data collection and analysis

• Studies from OECD countries.

Exclusion criteria:

• Studies with young mothers who were over the age of 20 at the time of pregnancy or over the age of 25 at data collection.

• Studies where the views of young mothers (under the age of 20) are included but not separately identified or reported.

• Studies with young women on pregnancy termination.

• Studies which exclusively investigate the experience of pharmacological or service development interventions for mental health problems.

• Studies without a primary focus on mental health and wellbeing in the research question or study aims or primary evidence from young mothers’ accounts.

• Studies that discuss issues related to mental health and wellbeing (i.e. stigma or violence) but where no connection is explicitly referred to in study aims or in participants’ accounts.

• Studies with quantitative methods of data collection and analysis.

• Qualitative data with no verbatim quotes.

• Reviews, opinion pieces/commentaries, theses and dissertations, non-peer reviewed journal articles, reports, conference abstracts.

• Studies from non-OECD countries.