title: Childhood maltreatment, postnatal distress and the protective role of social support.
abstract: The postpartum period is a vulnerable period for women with a history of childhood maltreatment. This study investigated the association between childhood maltreatment and postnatal distress three months postpartum and examined the role of social support provided by different sources (intimate partner, parents, parents-in-law, and friends). Analyses are based on N=66 women, who were screened for maltreatment experiences shortly after parturition with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Their levels of postnatal distress (symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress; assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the 4-Item version of the Perceived Stress Scale) and postpartum social support (measured with the Postpartum Social Support Questionnaire) were assessed three months postpartum. Adjusting for educational level and the experience of a recent stressful event, childhood maltreatment was directly associated with higher levels of postnatal distress. Social support provided by friends moderated this association in a heteroscedastic regression analysis. No moderating effect was observed for support provided by the own parents, the intimate partner, or parents-in-law. The association between childhood maltreatment and postnatal distress was not mediated by social support. Additional analyses revealed no main, moderating, or mediating effects of satisfaction with support. Results suggest that support provided by friends may promote resilience during the postpartum period in women with a history of childhood maltreatment. Efforts to better understand the role of postpartum support and mechanisms that may enhance a mother's ability to develop and maintain supportive friendships may be promising for guiding preventive interventions.
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Germany. Electronic address: katharina.schury@uni-ulm.de.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schury
authors.affiliation: German Youth Institute, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Statistics, Ulm University, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Umlauft
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Germany; Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hulbert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guendel
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ziegenhain
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Germany.
authors.forename: I-T
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Kolassa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse; D001007:Anxiety; D019052:Depression, Postpartum; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Childhood maltreatment; Postnatal distress; Postpartum; Satisfaction; Social support