Poster #37 - Examining the protective effect of social support: A longitudinal application of the Family Stress Model

• In Event: Poster Session 09

Abstract

Mothers’ economic hardship is found to be positively associated with maternal depressive symptoms and depressed mothers are prone to experience more parenting stress (Conger et al., 1992; Gelfand et al., 1992). These risk factors might undermine mothers’ caregiving behavior (Lovejoy et al., 2000). Research studies show that social support might be particularly beneficial in families living in poverty with depressed mothers (Lee et al., 2009). However, there are competing views on whether protective factors need to demonstrate direct or moderating effects (Yule et al., 2019). Thus, we first applied a longitudinal approach to the family stress model by examining whether the association between income-to-needs and mothers’ parenting stress is mediated via economic stress and maternal depressive symptoms. Then, we tested two models for comparing the potential protective effect of social support, one with the main effects and other with moderating effects in the mediation model.
Data were from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a longitudinal, birth cohort study of children born in the U.S. between 1998 and 2000 across 20 large U.S. cities. The sample was limited to 3,001 mothers who participated in the first four waves of data collection and provided information regarding income-to-needs ratio, economic pressure, maternal depressive symptoms, and maternal parenting stress at the child’s birth (W1), age 1 (W2), age 3 (W3), and age 5 (W4), respectively. Income-to-needs ratio was calculated by dividing total annual family income by the official poverty threshold for the household size. Economic pressure was assessed by mother-reported 12-items regarding economic hardship experienced in past 12 months. Mothers reported depressive symptoms using the CIDI-SF (Kessler et al., 1998) and their parenting stress reporting on four statements derived from Parent Stress Inventory (Abidin, 1995). Social support from friends and family with focus on instrumental support was measured at all waves, 3-items for wave 1 and 6-items for the rest three waves. The hypothesized models were tested using Mplus (see Figures 1 and 2). In model 1, pathways from income-to-needs to maternal depressive symptoms and to parenting stress was fully mediated via economic stress. Further, the association between economic hardship and parenting stress was partially mediated by maternal depressive symptoms. Income-to-needs was not significantly associated with maternal depressive symptoms and parenting stress after controlling for mediation. Turning to social support, the main effects were significant such that higher levels of social support at birth, 1 year, and 3 years predicted lower levels of economic stress at year 1, maternal depressive symptoms at year 3, and parenting stress at year 5, respectively. The patterns of associations found in Model 2 was consistent with the findings in Model 1, however, none of the interaction effect of social support were significant. The results suggest that the social support has direct positive effects in decreasing maladaptive outcomes, but it did not buffer earlier experiences of risks. Given the important role social support plays in low-income families with mothers who might be depressed and highly stressed, it can be specifically targeted in prevention and intervention programs.

Authors

• Shourya Negi, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Kierra Marie Pettit Sattler, University of North Carolina at Greensboro