Poster #87 - Baby-PAWS: The Dutch Validation of the Baby Preparation and Worry Scale

• In Event: Poster Session 03

Abstract

Background. The importance of pregnancy-specific instruments has been highlighted by studies showing how maternal pregnancy-specific worry may be negatively associated with the child’s physical and behavioral development. However, instruments assessing pregnancy anticipatory worries about the postnatal period were missing until recently. The Baby Preparation and Worry Scale (Baby-PAWS: Erickson et al., 2020) was created as a new instrument to address expectant mothers’ worries about possible challenges related to the anticipated parental role (e.g., maintaining close relations, self-care, partner involvement, and adequate care for the infant). The current preregistered study reports initial results of a validation of the Baby-PAWS for the Dutch population. The study assessed 1) internal consistency of the Baby-PAWS 16-item total scale and 3 subscales; 2) concurrent validity via associations between the Baby-PAWS scores (i.e. total and subscales) and established measures of maternal depression, general and pregnancy-specific anxiety obtained in the third trimester; 3) the predictive utility by assessing associations between Baby-PAWS and infant temperament.
Method. Healthy pregnant women (N = 521) taking part in three different studies completed questionnaires during their third trimester, including demographics, Baby-PAWS, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Pregnancy Related Anxieties Questionnaire – Revised (PRAQ-R). A subsample of mothers (N= 194) also reported on infant temperament at 12 weeks postpartum, using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire – Revised (IBQ-R).
Results. Item-average scores were formed for the overall Baby-PAWS scale and each of the three Baby-PAWS factors, showing reasonable-to-good internally consistency: Overall α = .85; Self and Partner Worry α = .83; Non-parental Childcare Worry α = .66; Baby Caregiving Worry α = .63. Moderate and significant concurrent associations were observed between all of the Baby-PAWS indicators and scores obtained on established measures of prenatal internalizing symptoms (Table 1). With respect to predictive utility analyses, significant results were observed for the Negative Emotionality (NEG) factor only (i.e., Baby-PAWS scores did not account for significant amounts of variance for Surgency/Positive Affectivity or Regulatory Capacity/Orienting domains of the IBQ-R). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses conducted with NEG component subscales: Distress to Limitations (i.e., frustration), Sadness, Falling Reactivity (ability to recover from distress), and Fear, also produced a number of significant results (Table 2). Specifically, the overall Baby-PAWS scale significantly contributed to predicting Distress to Limitations, as did the Nonparental Childcare Worry subscale, with the same pattern of results observed for Fear. However, Falling Reactivity and Sadness were not associated with significant effects.
Conclusion. This investigation is the first to demonstrate satisfactory internal consistency, concurrent validity and predictive utility of the Dutch version of the Baby-PAWS questionnaire. The overall score and component subscales demonstrated expected moderate and significant associations with prenatal internalizing symptoms. Importantly, greater overall worry about transition to parenthood, and concerns regarding nonparental care in particular, were associated with greater infant negative emotionality, specifically higher levels of reactivity to novelty and anger/frustration. Our findings support the research and clinical utility of the scale, as well as application among varying cultural groups.

Authors

• Nina Bruinhof, Radboudumc

• Ela Sehic, Washington State University
  Presenting Author

• Maria Amy Gartstein, Washington State University

• Carolina de Weerth, Radboud University Medical Center