Personality traits, perceived social support, and perception of insufficient milk in primiparous mothers: A...

The perception of insufficient milk is a common problem among mothers that is associated with the breastfeeding process and psychological well-being. This study examined the relationship between mothers' personality traits, perceived levels of social support, and perceptions of insufficient milk.

The study's sample comprised 323 breastfeeding primiparous mothers with singleton pregnancies and term deliveries, using a descriptive and cross-sectional research methodology. The Big Five Inventory (BFI), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and Perception of Insufficient Milk Supply (PIMS) were used to gather the data. Path analysis was used to examine which personality traits of the mothers were effective in influencing social support. Additionally, it examined the relationship between social support and inadequate milk perception.

When the relationship between total scale scores was analyzed, it was found that as extraversion (β = 0.491, P = 0.005), agreeableness (β = 0.323, P = 0.045) and openness to experience (β = 0.318, P = 0.038) increased, so too did perceived social support scores, while the perception of milk deficiency decreased (β = 0.099, P = 0.004).

Two important factors associated with postnatal breastfeeding were mothers' personality traits and their perception of social support. The results suggest that strengthening social support through targeted programs and support networks might help promote mother-infant interactions and breastfeeding across the prenatal and postnatal periods.