Poster #58 - Parental Relationship Closeness and Parent-Child Closeness: The Moderating Role of COVID-19 Pandemic Related Stress

• In Event: Poster Session 05

Abstract

Introduction: It is well-documented that quality of early parent-child relationships is crucial for fostering child biopsychosocial development. The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) suggests that environmental conditions – experienced as early as in utero – have lasting implications for health and disease risk (Gluckman et al., 2016). In particular, research shows that relationship quality between caregivers, during the perinatal period, has an impact on parent-child closeness (Raouna et al., 2021). In addition, stressful experiences during pregnancy can negatively effect relationship quality (Chung et al., 2020). Therefore, we aimed to examine the link between parental closeness and parent-infant closeness, and the potential negative impact of COVID-19 stress (Ilska et al., 2021; Wei et al., 2021) on these factors, in a sample of individuals pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic.



Hypotheses: It was hypothesized that less close relationships between pregnant individuals and their partner would be associated with lower levels of parent-infant closeness, and that this effect would be exacerbated for people who perceived the impact of COVID-19 to be more negative/stressful.



Method: Participants began the study in June 2020, while they were pregnant (T1; n=179) and completed follow-up surveys at 6 weeks postpartum (T2; n=175), and 6 months post-partum (T3; n=179). Participants rated the overall perceived negative impact that COVID-19 on them and their household, as well as perceived closeness between themselves and their partner, and themselves and their infant, based on the Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale (Aron et al., 1992).



Analyses: Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to assess whether the overall perceived negative impact of COVID-19 moderated the association between partner closeness and parent-child closeness, at three different timepoints during the perinatal period. In step 1, relevant covariates (number of children, gestational weeks at birth, and maternal education and age) were controlled. Step 2 analyzed the main effects of parent-parent closeness and negative COVID-19 experiences on parent-child closeness. Lastly, step 3 examined the interaction of parent-parent closeness and COVID-19 experiences on parent-child closeness.



Results: As shown in Table 1, there was a significant main effect of parent-parent closeness in relation to parent-child closeness at all three timepoints (T1: p = .013; T2: p < .001, T3: p < .001), however, the main effect of COVID-19 impact was not significantly associated with parent-child closeness from T1-T3. The interaction between negative COVID-19 experiences and parent-parent closeness on perception of parent-child closeness was significant (F(7, 170) = 4.62, p < .001, adjusted R2 = .125) during pregnancy (p = .020, Figure 1), and marginally significant at 6 months postpartum (p = .053).



Discussion: Results indicate that individuals who perceive a less close (more distanced) relationship with their partner and who have more negative COVID-19 experiences, report less feelings of closeness with their infant in pregnancy, in contrast to those who report a close relationship with their partner (Figure 1). This finding supports the importance of having close, supportive relationships, especially in times of isolation and high COVID-19 related stress, as partner relationships impact parent-infant closeness during the formative perinatal period.

Authors

• Lauren Giles, Dalhousie University
  Presenting Author

• Lindsay Heyland, Mount Saint Vincent University

• Leslie Atkinson, Ryerson University

• Andrea Gonzalez, McMaster University

• Jennifer Khoury, Mount Saint Vincent University