Prenatal Intimate Partner Violence & Early Infant Difficult Temperament: The Moderating Role of Breastfeeding

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Prenatal intimate partner violence (IPV) predicts later infant adjustment and is associated with problems with infant reactivity and regulation of stress (Levendosky et al. 2016). Identifying factors that may buffer infants from these negative effects is necessary to inform effective interventions. Breastfeeding is one potential factor that has been positively linked to several health outcomes for mothers (Chowdhury et al., 2015) and infants (Sankar et al, 2015; Belfort et al., 2012). Recent research also finds positive associations between breastfeeding and maternal sensitivity (Tharner et al., 2012) which may be due to the effect of breastfeeding on hormones and their facilitation of caregiving behavior. As such, breastfeeding has been proposed a potential moderator of the relationship between maternal and child outcomes. To date, only one study has examined the moderating role of breastfeeding among prenatal IPV and early infant temperament. Miller-Graff & Schied (2020) found significant interaction effects of prenatal IPV and breastfeeding on infant positivity and orienting at 4 months, suggesting a protective effect of breastfeeding. Surprisingly however, no effects for negative emotionality were found. Based on prior evidence linking postpartum IPV and difficult temperament, we sought to further explore the effects of prenatal IPV on infant difficult temperament and breastfeeding as a potential moderator of this relationship.
Participants (n = 191) in the current study were part of a larger prospective study examining the effects of IPV on maternal and child functioning. Mothers self-reported prenatal IPV during the last trimester of pregnancy along with breastfeeding and infant temperament on the Early Infant Temperament Questionnaire (EITQ; Medoff-Cooper, Carey & McDevitt, 1993) at 2 months of infant age. All EITQ subscales are calculated such that higher scores represent more difficulty, therefore, all nine scales were summed to create an overall score of temperamental difficulty (Britton, 2011). At enrollment, mothers ranged in age from 17-40 years old (M= 25.38) and were mainly White (63%) and Black (25%). Approximately half reported being single or never married with a median household monthly income of $1500. Moderation analysis was conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS (Hayes, 2012) in order to examine whether breastfeeding status moderated the effect of prenatal IPV on difficult infant temperament. After controlling for maternal age, income, and education, the interaction between prenatal IPV and breastfeeding accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in difficult temperament, R² = .124, F (6, 184) = 4.32, p < .001. Simple slopes analysis found that prenatal IPV significantly predicted difficult infant temperament for women who did not breastfeed (B = .07, SE = .02 , p < .01), but not for women who did breastfeed (B = -.04, SE = .04, n.s.; see Figure 1). In line with prior research, findings highlight the potential protective benefit of breastfeeding during the early postpartum period, particularly for mothers affected by prenatal IPV. Furthermore, this work underscores the utility of providing breastfeeding support for at-risk women to reduce the negative effects on infant temperament and support optimal mother-infant relationships within the context of adversity.

Authors

• Kristyn Wong, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• G. Anne Bogat, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alytia Akiko Levendosky, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author