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

Abstract

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 associate..