Associations of Prenatal Social Support in Adolescent Mothers With Measures of Social-Emotional Development in Their...

Social environments are essential for supporting social-emotional development in children. However, little consideration has been given to social environments children may be exposed to prior to birth and how this may affect social behavior for both generations postnatally. As such, this study considered the impact of maternal social support during pregnancy on infant and maternal social behaviors in very early childhood.

Pregnant adolescents from 2009-2012 evaluated their social support and participated in maternal-infant interactions at 4 and 14 months of age to assess maternal sensitivity and child attachment. Social skills and language development of infants were evaluated at 4 months of age. A subset of infants underwent MRI to assess functional connectivity of a social brain network. Path analyses were conducted to determine associations among prenatal maternal social support, 4-month maternal sensitivity, 4-month infant language and social development, and 14-month child attachment.

We detected significant associations of prenatal social support satisfaction with 4-month infant social development, and with maternal sensitivity and infant language development at 4 months. No maternal or infant factors were associated with attachment at 14 months. Exploratory path analysis included neonate social brain network connectivity. No significant associations were demonstrated between maternal or infant factors and neonate brain connectivity.

This study underscores the importance of maternal perceived satisfaction with social support during pregnancy and sensitivity in infancy for child social and language development.