The associations of psychosocial factors and infant feeding beliefs and practices of young, first time, low income mothers.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this descriptive, correlational study was to explore associations of maternal psychosocial factors with beliefs and practices related to infant feeding in a sample of young, first-time mothers.


METHODS
Data were collected from 67 mothers (ages 15-22 years) to assess maternal attributes of self-esteem, depressive symptoms, social support, and beliefs and practices related to infant feeding.


RESULTS
Significant multivariate associations were found among the variables of interest with mothers' reports of feeding infants at set times, concern the infant was eating too much, and concern about the infant becoming overweight. Maternal depressive symptoms and social support were found to uniquely contribute to the practice of feeding at set times, while depressive symptoms contributed to concern of the infant eating too much.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study add to the understanding of young, first-time, mothers' infant feeding beliefs and practices and the particular psychosocial factors, which are associated with them.
Vanderbilt University, School of Nursing, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. sharon.karp@vanderbilt.edu
Sharon M
SM
Karp
Melanie
M
Lutenbacher
Mary S
MS
Dietrich
D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010298:Parity; D011203:Poverty; D055815:Young Adult