Maternal childhood aversity and mental health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

• In Event: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Emotional Well-being of Caregivers and Children

Abstract

Background Maternal mental health is an important factor for child development. A woman’s mental health impacts her capacity to meet her child’s needs, her parenting practices, her maternal sensitivity, and the mother-child bond, all of which directly affect the child’s neuropsychological and socioemotional development, especially during early and middle childhood (Goodman & Gotlib, 2002; Levy et al., 2019; Phua et al., 2020). When mothers experience depression, their children may experience a myriad of adverse consequences, including the development of behavioral issues and psychological disorders, which may affect children into adulthood (Gilliam et al., 2015; Goodman et al., 2011; Morgan et al., 2014). There are numerous underlying causes for maternal depression, many of which interact with each other in complex and largely unknown ways. These mechanisms include previous trauma, biological factors, and life stressors (Li et al., 2017; Yu et al., 2019). Moreover, early life trauma may increase an individual’s sensitivity to stressors later in life (e.g., stress sensitization hypothesis; Hammen at al., 2000; Menke et al., 2018). Emerging evidence suggests the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in mental health problems, including depression and perceived stress (Amsalem et al., 2020). The current study examines how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with maternal depression and perceived stress due to COVID-related (e.g., economic, health, and social) stressors using a longitudinal sample of mothers of young children who self-reported on their depression and perceived stress before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods The sample for this study includes 107 women who participated in eight waves of a longitudinal study examining the effects of childhood trauma on maternal health and pregnancy outcomes. In 2017 and 2018, 177 pregnant women were recruited from two university-affiliated perinatal clinics in a city in the South Central U.S. Participants’ ACE scores were assessed during pregnancy, while depressive symptoms (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) and perceived stress (Cohen et al., 1983) were assessed two months before and two months after the start of social distancing efforts in the state in March 2020. The economic, health, and social stressors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic were also assessed in the eighth/most recent survey wave.

Results We found that overall, participants reported a 22% increase in self-reported depression and 18% increase in perceived stress since the onset of social distancing mandates at the state level and that the difference is greater for women with higher levels of childhood adversity (6 or more ACEs) (see Figure 1). Linear regression analyses suggest that the association of ACEs and depressive symptoms is mediated by loneliness. ACEs, loneliness, and economic impacts due to the pandemic are significantly associated with perceived stress (see Table 1).

Conclusion Results suggest that mothers of young children who were exposed to higher levels of childhood adversity may be more sensitive to the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. This, in turn, may exacerbate the adverse consequences of the pandemic for child development and well-being.

Authors

• Christine Joachims, Oklahoma State University - Tulsa
  Presenting Author

• Karina M. Shreffler, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
  Non-Presenting Author