47 - Maternal Perceived Social Support During the COVID-19 Pandemic Predict Infant Negative Affect at 12 Months

Poster Number: 47
Publication Number: 47.203

Kristen Keene, The University of Vermont Children's Hospital, Burlington, VT, United States; Leigh-Anne Cioffredi, The University of Vermont Children's Hospital, Burlington, VT, United States; Genevieve T. Wakeman, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States; Alexandra Potter, Robert Larner, M.D., College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States; Kaelyn Kohlasch, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, United States

Background: While strong perceived social support (PSS) in the perinatal period is associated with positive parenting and infant development, decreased PSS is correlated with postpartum depression, and decreased parental confidence.  Studies also show a decrease in maternal PSS during the COVID pandemic. Given the well-established role of the mother-infant relationship in infant outcomes, we hypothesize decreased maternal PSS during the COVID pandemic is associated with altered infant temperament.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of maternal PSS on infant temperament at 12 months.

Design/Methods: In June 2020, perinatal women were enrolled in a longitudinal study assessing the effects of COVID on women and their children. Questionnaires at enrollment included demographic information, COVID exposures, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) measures of depression and anxiety, and ratings of PSS before and during the pandemic.  PSS was measured on an analog scale with anchors 1=Not supported and 7=Very supported. When infants were 12 months old, participants completed questionnaires including the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ-R).
To assess effect of PSS on infant temperament we used the three IBQ-R subscales: Surgency, Negative Affect, and Effortful Control as outcome variables and conducted regression analyses with PSS as the predictor. Models were adjusted for demographics (age, income and education) then step-wise regression was completed with possible confounding variables: depression, anxiety and number of contacts with COVID exposure.

Results: 73 women completed enrollment surveys and 12 month developmental surveys. For distributions of variables see Table 1. Mean PSS during the pandemic was 4.7 (range 1-7). Mean pre-pandemic PSS was 5.7 (range 1-7). 56% of participants experienced decreased social support during the pandemic, 33% had no change, and 11% reported increased support. PSS during COVID was not a significant predictor of surgency nor effortful control in univariate and adjusted models. However, COVID related PSS predicted negative affect. In univariate [b = -0.19 95% CI (-0.32 to -0.05)] demographic adjusted [b = -0.21 95% CI (-0.34 to -0.07)] increased PSS was associated with decreased negative affect score at 12 months. None of the additional covariates improved the model in the step-wise analysis. Conclusion(s): Maternal PSS decreased during the COVID pandemic.  This decreased PSS is associated with increased negative affect in infants at 12 months of age.  As the pandemic continues, improving mother’s feelings of social support may have lasting benefits on infants and maternal-infant interactions.