Preconception risk and promotive factors of postpartum social support: A multidecade prospective cohort study

Social support is a vital resource for parents raising young children. Yet, little is known about the developmental histories of parents that may compromise or strengthen social support in early parenthood. We explored the extent to which parents' perceived social support at 1 year postpartum could be predicted by factors from well before parenthood, assessed across 10 waves of data collected in their childhoods, adolescence, and young adulthoods. Prospective data were from the Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 Study, an intergenerational cohort established in 1983 (n = 700 parents of 1,164 children; 57% mothers). Bivariate regressions showed postpartum social support was associated with factors from as early as childhood spanning individual (i.e., temperament, personality, mental health problems, life satisfaction, general health, and social skills; risk factors β_range = -0.10 to -0.25; promotive factors β_range = 0.16 to 0.32), proximal relationship (i.e., quality of relationships with parents, teachers, peers, and romantic partners; risk factors β_range = -0.10 to -0.25; promotive factors β_range = 0.11 to 0.30), and contextual and community (i.e., community bonding/trust; promotive factors β_range = 0.11 to 0.16) levels of the developmental ecology. There was little evidence of differences between mothers and fathers, and first-time and subsequent parents. Findings suggest that the origins of postpartum social support may be evident decades before parenthood. Parents with a preconception history of mental health problems, lower levels of social skills, or relationship difficulties are at risk of lower social support in the postpartum periods and may benefit from targeted interventions responsive to their developmental contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).