title: Intercorrelations and developmental pathways of mothers' and fathers' loneliness during pregnancy, infancy and toddlerhood--STEPS study.
abstract: Our aim was to study the inter-correlations and developmental pathways of mothers' and fathers' social and emotional loneliness during pregnancy (20th pregnancy week), infancy (child aged 8 months), and early childhood (child aged 18 months). Moreover, we aimed to study whether mothers and fathers who have different developmental profiles (identified by latent growth curve mixture models) differ in their experiences of marital dissatisfaction (RDAS), social phobia (SPIN) and depression (BDI) during pregnancy. Both mothers' social and emotional loneliness and fathers' social and emotional loneliness were highly stable, and within individuals these loneliness factors were strongly correlated. However, the correlations between mothers' loneliness experiences and fathers' loneliness experiences were weaker than expected. Separate latent growth curve groups were identified, which differed in feelings of marital dissatisfaction, social phobia, and depression. These groupings revealed that the higher the loneliness was, the more the parents experience these other psychosocial problems.
authors.affiliation: Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Turku, Finland.|Department of Teacher Education, University of Turku, Finland.|Turku Institute for Child and Youth Research, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Niina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Junttila
authors.affiliation: Turku Institute for Child and Youth Research, University of Turku, Finland.|Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahlqvist-Björkroth
authors.affiliation: Turku Institute for Child and Youth Research, University of Turku, Finland.|Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Minna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aromaa
authors.affiliation: Turku Institute for Child and Youth Research, University of Turku, Finland.|Clinical Research Centre in Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Päivi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rautava
authors.affiliation: Turku Institute for Child and Youth Research, University of Turku, Finland.|Department of Child Psychiatry, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jorma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piha
authors.affiliation: Turku Institute for Child and Youth Research, University of Turku, Finland.|Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Hannele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Räihä
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006803:Human Development / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Social loneliness; depressive symptoms; emotional loneliness; latent growth curve mixture modeling; marital dissatisfaction; social phobia; transition to parenthood