Psychosocial predictors of primiparous breastfeeding initiation and duration
Open accessAbstract
Background: Many US women fall short of meeting the recommendations on breastfeeding. Whereas prenatal demographic factors have been well researched in relation to breastfeeding, psychosocial maternal characteristics are less understood but could be important predictors of breastfeeding initiation and duration. Objective: This study examined primiparous maternal psychosocial characteristics and temperamentally based negative infant affect as predictors of breastfeeding initiation and duration while accounting for depression and sociodemographic covariates. Methods: Prenatally, 237 primiparous women were administered the Adult Attachment Interview and completed a measure of beliefs related to infant crying. At 6 months postpartum, negative infant affect was assessed via mother report. Breastfeeding was assessed at 6 months and 1 year postpartum via mother report. Results: Results indicated that younger, low income, less educated, single, ethnic minority mothers and mothers with elevated depressive symptoms were less likely to initiate breastfeeding and breastfed for a shorter period than other women. Women who initiated breastfeeding tended to have higher adult attachment coherence scores (more secure attachment) than those who did not initiate breastfeeding (median score of 6.00 vs 4.00). An interaction was observed between negative infant affect and beliefs about crying related to spoiling, such that earlier cessation of breastfeeding was observed among mothers who reported high levels of negative infant affect and strongly endorsed the belief that responding to cries spoils infants (hazard ratio = 1.71, P < .01). Conclusion: Although these psychosocial variables predicted relatively little variation in breastfeeding over and above covariates, the results suggest some novel approaches to promote breastfeeding.
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The initiation and duration of breastfeeding is negatively affected by the existence of mental health disorders in women.
“At the same time, as it has been proven that the initiation and duration of breastfeeding is negatively affected by the existence of mental health disorders in women [18,19,20,21]”
From Association between Breastfeeding Duration and Long-Term Midwifery-Led Support and Psychosocial Support: Outcomes from a Greek Non-Randomized Controlled Perinatal Health Intervention (2021) · cites this paper as [19]
The Abstract’s Results report that mothers with elevated depressive symptoms were less likely to initiate breastfeeding and breastfed for a shorter period. The Methods’ Potential Covariates section says the study measured depressive symptoms, not diagnosed mental health disorders; its observational finding also does not establish that those symptoms caused the breastfeeding outcomes. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Dagla, M., Mrvoljak-Theodoropoulou, I., Vogiatzoglou, M., Giamalidou, A., Tsolaridou, E., Mavrou, M., Dagla, C., & Antoniou, E. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18041988 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
- Authors
- Mathews, M. E., Leerkes, E. M., Lovelady, C. A., & Labban, J. D.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Human Lactation
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-06-17
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 480-487
- ISSN
- 0890-3344 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-5732
- PMC
- PMC5282468
- OpenAlex
- W2059805680
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 6
- FWCI
- 3.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Human Lactation (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- NC Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD058578)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Breastfeeding Practices and Influences
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Infant Nutrition and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Keywords
- breastfeeding initiation, breastfeeding duration, primiparous women, adult attachment, maternal depression, sociodemographic factors, breastfeeding cessation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Breast Feeding, Female, Humans, Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Infant, Newborn, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mother-Child Relations, Mothers, North Carolina, Parity, Pregnancy, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Socioeconomic Factors, Depression, Postpartum, Postpartum Period, Young Adult
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