Document text
Principal Investigator: Darby E. Saxbe
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $48,837
Funding agency: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
PROJECT SUMMARY
The COVID-19 pandemic has had sweeping effects on pregnant women and their
partners. The need to adhere to social distancing guidelines has altered the social
connectedness of expectant parents, with effects on stress, loneliness, reduced access to in-
person prenatal care, and childbirth support. Social support during pregnancy is known to
buffer stress and predict better postpartum outcomes for both new parents and their infants.
For example, greater prenatal support has been linked with decreased risk of parental
postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, lower incidence of preterm birth and low birth
weight, calmer infant temperament, and healthier infant development. Given this evidence,
pandemic-induced changes to social connectedness during pregnancy may have long-term
effects for new parents and their children.
The current proposal leverages the unique natural experiment of the COVID-19
pandemic to examine the maternal and infant health effects of social connectedness among
pregnant women and their partners. The CHIRP (Coronavirus, Health, Isolation and
Resilience in Pregnancy) study launched in spring 2020 and has enrolled 710 expectant
parents who reported on their feelings of social connectedness and support during
pregnancy. We will follow up with this cohort three, six, and 12 months after the birth of their
child. In addition to collecting self-report data, we will gather hospital birth charts to measure
gestational outcomes, and hair cortisol to measure neuroendocrine stress exposure. We also
plan to use geocoding to model the social, economic, and health impacts of the pandemic
and explore how these impacts shape postpartum outcomes. Our lab has already collected
data from another cohort of 200 expectant parents recruited during pregnancy and followed
over the transition to parenthood, constituting a pre-pandemic comparison sample with the
same measures and timing. We will also conduct a five-year follow-up with children from our
pre-pandemic dataset that will incorporate behavioral and neuroimaging measures of
neurodevelopment.
Our pilot data indicates significantly higher ratings of psychological distress and lower
ratings of social support among expectant parents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We
expect that this project will make important contributions to the study of stress and resilience
during pregnancy and its long-term effects on both maternal and infant well-being.
Terms: <0-11 years old><Active Follow-up><Aeroseb-HC><Affect><Affective Disorders><Age><Anxiety><Anxiety Disorders><Apgar Score><Behavior><Behavioral><Birth><Birth Weight><Buffers><COVID crisis><COVID epidemic><COVID pandemic><COVID-19><COVID-19 crisis><COVID-19 epidemic><COVID-19 era><COVID-19 global health crisis><COVID-19 global pandemic><COVID-19 health crisis><COVID-19 pandemic><COVID-19 pandemic affected><COVID-19 pandemic consequence><COVID-19 pandemic effects><COVID-19 pandemic impact><COVID-19 pandemic impacted><COVID-19 period><COVID-19 public health crisis><COVID-19 years><CV-19><Cetacort><Child><Child Health><Child Rearing><Child Youth><Childbirth><Children (0-21)><Chronologic Fetal Maturity><Communities><Coronaviridae><Coronavirus><Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019><Cort-Dome><Cortef><Cortenema><Cortisol><Cortispray><Cortril><Data><Data Reporting><Data Set><Dermacort><Developing fetus><Development><Disease><Disorder><Distress><Economics><Eldecort><Emotional Depression><Enrollment><Expectancy><Extended Family><Family Health><Family health status><Fathers><Fear><Feeling><Fetal Age><Fetal Development><Foundations><Fright><Funding><Geographic Area><Geographic Locations><Geographic Region><Geographical Location><Gestation><Gestational Age><Guidelines><Hair><Health><Height><Hospitals><Hydrocortisone><Hydrocortone><Hytone><Incidence><Infant><Infant Development><Infant Health><Infection><Knowledge><Link><Location><Loneliness><Long-Term Effects><Longterm Effects><Low Birth Weight Infant><Maternal Health><Measures><Mental Depression><Mental Health><Mental Hygiene><Modeling><Mood Disorders><Mothers><NICHD><National Institute of Child Health and Human Development><National Institute of Children's Health and Human Development><Natural experiment><Neural Development><Neuroendocrine><Neuroendocrine System><Neurosecretory Systems><Nutracort><Outcome><Parenting><Parenting behavior><Parents><Participant><Parturition><Patient Self-Report><Personal Satisfaction><Persons><Physical distancing><Population><Postpartum Period><Pregnancy><Pregnant Women><Premature Birth><Prematurely delivering><Prenatal care><Preparedness><Preterm Birth><Proctocort><Psychological Health><Readiness><Recovery><Reporting><Research><Risk><Risk Factors><SARS-CoV-2 epidemic><SARS-CoV-2 global health crisis><SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic><SARS-CoV-2 pandemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 epidemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 pandemic><Sampling><Schools><Self-Report><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 epidemic><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 pandemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic><Shapes><Social Behavior><Social Distance><Social support><Source><Strategic Planning><Stress><Temperament><Testing><United States><Woman><active followup><ages><anxiety symptoms><anxious symptom><biopsychosocial factor><biopsychosocial variable><child birth><childrearing><cohort><corona virus><coronavirus disease 2019><coronavirus disease 2019 crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic><coronavirus disease 2019 global health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic consequence><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic impact><coronavirus disease 2019 public health crisis><coronavirus disease crisis><coronavirus disease epidemic><coronavirus disease pandemic><coronavirus disease-19><coronavirus disease-19 global pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 pandemic><coronavirus infectious disease-19><data representation><data representations><depression><depression symptom><depressive><depressive symptoms><developmental><economic><effects following the COVID-19 pandemic><enroll><expectant mother><expecting mother><experience><feelings><fetal stress><follow up><follow-up><followed up><followup><geographic site><healthy pregnancy><impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic><in utero><indexing><infant temperament><insight><kids><lonely><low birth weight><low birthweight><neural imaging><neuro-imaging><neurodevelopment><neuroimaging><neurological imaging><pandemic><pandemic disease><pandemic effect><pandemic impact><pandemic outcome><pandemic repercussions><parent><perceived stress><perception of stress><post-partum><post-partum outcome><postpartum outcome><pre-pandemic><pregnancy care><pregnant mothers><premature childbirth><premature delivery><prenatal><prenatal appointment><prenatal checkup><prenatal stress><prenatal visit><preterm delivery><protective factors><psychological distress><recruit><resilience><resilient><self-reported stress><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global health crisis><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global pandemic><social><social factors><social support network><sociobehavior><sociobehavioral><stay-at-home mandate><stay-at-home order><stay-at-home ordinance><stay-at-home policy><stress buffering><stress management><stress perception><stressor><unborn><well-being><wellbeing><youngster>