Perceived Neighborhood Safety as an Antecedent and Consequence of Maternal Perinatal Mental Health

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Maternal mental health during the perinatal period has important and lasting implications mothers and offspring (Davis & Narayan, in press). Links between mothers’ perceptions of their neighborhood safety (NS) and perinatal mental health are understudied. The extant literature documents associations between NS and adults’ mental health; however, much of it focuses on macro-level assessments of NS (e.g., neighborhood SES, crime rates, and structural elements; Johansen et al., 2015). Research is less focused on individual experiences within neighborhoods, including maternal perceptions of NS (Aisenberg & Herrenkohl, 2008). Associations between mothers’ perceived NS and mental health are particularly important to examine during the perinatal period, when women are at greater risk for mental health problems, meanwhile preparing for parenting and protecting infants against environmental risks (Davis & Narayan, in press; Zuberi, 2018). The current study hypothesized that women’s higher levels of NS, including self-reported and coder ratings, would be associated with lower perinatal mental health problems, after accounting for covariates.
Participants (n = 90) were drawn from a larger, low-income, ethnically-diverse sample of women from a Western U.S. city who enrolled during their second or third trimester of pregnancy (38.9% White, 25.7% Latinx, 16.6% African American, 12.0% biracial/multiracial, 6.8% other; M = 28.07 years, SD = 5.68, range = 18-40). Mental health problems were assessed with the Edinburgh Pre/Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; Cox et al., 1987) and the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (Weathers et al., 2013) during pregnancy and at three to four months postnatal. At postnatal, women’s NS was assessed using a 5-point self-report Likert scale of “1-Very Unsafe” to “5-Very Safe.” Women also provided a description of neighborhood characteristics, and trained, blind raters used the same Likert scale for coder ratings of NS (interclass correlation coefficient = .93). Demographics included income, number of moves during pregnancy, and type of housing.
Results indicated that self-reported and coder-rated postnatal NS were significantly associated (r= .62, p<.001). Higher maternal self-reported postnatal NS was significantly associated with lower prenatal depression symptoms (r= -.31, p<.05), postnatal depression symptoms (r= -.20, p<.05), and postnatal PTSD symptoms (r= -.25, p<.05). Higher coder-rated postnatal NS was significantly associated with lower prenatal depression only (r= -.24, p<.05). No covariates were associated with mental health problems at either time period.
Maternal perceived NS may be a potential consequence of maternal prenatal mental health and an antecedent of postnatal mental health. In terms of depression, mothers’ prenatal symptoms may influence how women perceive and describe their postnatal NS, and postnatal NS may in turn continue to affect postnatal depression symptoms. In terms of PTSD symptoms, women’s higher self-reports of postnatal NS, rather than higher coder ratings of NS, may be associated with lower concurrent PTSD symptoms. These latter findings indicate that even if coders rate some unsafe neighborhood characteristics, women’s perceptions of greater safety may more strongly link to their PTSD symptoms. Thus, further highlighting the importance of assessing women’s direct reports on NS. Future work should examine associations between perceived NS, exposure to adversity, and early parenting behaviors.

Authors

• Cassandra Svelnys, University of Denver
  Presenting Author

• Chloe Lecat, University of Denver
  Non-Presenting Author

• Angela J Narayan, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author