Poster #110 - Social support moderates the impact of prenatal emotion dysregulation on infant externalizing behaviors during COVID-19

• In Event: Poster Session 18

Abstract

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, pregnant people experienced elevated stress and mental health problems, exacerbating the inherent vulnerabilities experienced during the perinatal period (Salari et al., 2020). Emotion dysregulation — characterized by difficulty modulating the experience and/or expression of emotions (Gross & Muñoz, 1995)— has been associated with more maternal mental health problems (Kalmbach et al., 2020). However, it remains unclear what effects maternal emotion dysregulation, during the perinatal period, have on the social-emotional development of their children (Penner & Rutherford, 2022). In addition, prior research indicates that social support buffers against the effects of maternal distress on child externalizing outcomes (Heberle et al., 2015). The present study examined the impact of maternal emotion dysregulation and social support in pregnancy, during the COVID-19 pandemic, on child social-emotional development at 15 months postpartum.

Hypotheses: We hypothesized that maternal emotion dysregulation in pregnancy would be associated with more child social-emotional and behavioral problems. We also hypothesized that social support during pregnancy would moderate this association, with greater social support buffering the negative impact of maternal emotion dysregulation on child social-emotional and behavioral problems.

Methods: A total of 178 mother-child dyads participated in this longitudinal study beginning in pregnancy (T1), during the initial stages of the pandemic (June 2020) and spanning to 15 months postpartum (T2). During pregnancy, participants completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004) to assess emotion dysregulation and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet et al., 2012) to assess social support. Child social-emotional development was assessed at 15 months postpartum using the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment Scale (BITSEA; Briggs-Gowan et al., 2004), which includes Problem, Competence, Internalizing, Externalizing, and Dysregulation subscales. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to assess associations between maternal prenatal emotion dysregulation and social support on child social-emotional outcomes.

Results: As shown in Table 1, maternal emotion dysregulation had a significant main effect on child social-emotional development, such that greater emotion dysregulation was related to higher scores on the BITSEA Problem, Externalizing, and Dysregulation subscales and lower scores on the Competence subscale. However, the only significant interaction between maternal emotion dysregulation and social support during pregnancy was on child externalizing problems (Table 1). As shown in Figure 1, higher difficulties regulating emotions coupled with lower social support in pregnancy was associated with greater child externalizing problems, while higher social support neutralized the impact of higher emotion dysregulation on child externalizing problems.

Conclusions: Study findings add to the body of research indicating the essential nature of social support on mothers and children. Prenatal social support during the COVID-19 pandemic appears particularly relevant, as it acts as a buffer against the impact of higher maternal emotion dysregulation during pregnancy on child externalizing behaviors at 15 months postpartum. This suggests the need for a more nuanced understanding of how maternal emotion dysregulation is associated with the development of externalizing behaviors in children. These findings also highlight the impact of maternal prenatal emotional difficulties, during the COVID-19 pandemic, on child social-emotional development.

Authors

• Lindsay Heyland, Mount Saint Vincent University
  Presenting Author

• Lauren Giles, Dalhousie University

• Leslie Atkinson, Ryerson University

• Andrea Gonzalez, McMaster University

• Jennifer Khoury, Mount Saint Vincent University