Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Maternal social isolation in the perinatal period and early childhood development: the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study

  • Research
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Studies examining the associations between maternal social relationships and early childhood development have mainly focused on social relationships after childbirth. We aimed to prospectively examine the associations between the transition of maternal social isolation from the prenatal to postnatal period and early childhood development.

Methods

We analyzed data for 6692 mother–child pairs who participated in the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study. Social isolation in the prenatal and postnatal periods was assessed by the Lubben Social Network Scale-abbreviated version and categorized into four groups: none, prenatal only, postnatal only, and both. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition, which consists of five developmental areas, was used to assess developmental delays in children at 2 and 3.5 years of age. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between maternal social isolation and developmental delays.

Results

The prevalence of social isolation in both the prenatal and postnatal periods was 13.1%. Social isolation in both the prenatal and postnatal periods was associated with developmental delays in children at 2 and 3.5 years of age: the multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 1.68 (1.39–2.04) and 1.43 (1.17–1.76), respectively. Social isolation in the prenatal period only and social isolation in the postnatal period only were not associated with developmental delays in children at 2 and 3.5 years of age.

Conclusion

Maternal social isolation in both the prenatal and postnatal periods was associated with an increased risk of developmental delays in early childhood.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The data obtained through the TMM BirThree Cohort Study are incorporated into the TMM biobank. All data analyzed during the present study are available for research purpose with the approval by the Sample and Data Access Committee of the Biobank.

References

  1. World Health Organization (2020) Improving early childhood development: WHO guideline. World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  2. Black MM, Walker SP, Fernald LCH, Andersen CT, DiGirolamo AM, Lu C, McCoy DC, Fink G, Shawar YR, Shiffman J, Devercelli AE, Wodon QT, Vargas-Barón E, Grantham-McGregor S, Committee LECDSS (2017) Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life course. Lancet 389:77–90

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB (2010) Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Med 7:e1000316

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Santini ZI, Koyanagi A, Tyrovolas S, Mason C, Haro JM (2015) The association between social relationships and depression: a systematic review. J Affect Disord 175:53–65

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Umberson D, Crosnoe R, Reczek C (2010) Social relationships and health behavior across life course. Annu Rev Sociol 36:139–157

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Folger AT, Putnam KT, Putnam FW, Peugh JL, Eismann EA, Sa T, Shapiro RA, Van Ginkel JB, Ammerman RT (2017) Maternal interpersonal trauma and child social-emotional development: an intergenerational effect. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 31:99–107

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Huang CY, Costeines J, Ayala C, Kaufman JS (2014) Parenting stress, social support, and depression for ethnic minority adolescent mothers: impact on child development. J Child Fam Stud 23:255–262

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. McDonald SW, Kehler HL, Tough SC (2018) Risk factors for delayed social-emotional development and behavior problems at age two: results from the All Our Babies/Families (AOB/F) cohort. Health Sci Rep 1:e82

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Sarche MC, Croy CD, Crow CB, Mitchell CM, Spicer P (2009) Maternal correlates of 2-year-old American Indian children’s social-emotional development in a Northern Plains tribe. Infant Ment Health J 30:321–340

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Serrano-Villar M, Huang KY, Calzada EJ (2017) Social support, parenting, and social emotional development in young Mexican and Dominican American children. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 48:597–609

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Shin EK, LeWinn K, Bush N, Tylavsky FA, Davis RL, Shaban-Nejad A (2019) Association of maternal social relationships with cognitive development in early childhood. JAMA Netw Open 2:e186963

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Surkan PJ, Park S, Ridgeway K, Ribeiro M, Fidalgo TM, Martins SS, Caetano SC. Caregiver social capital and supportive relationships are associated with better child social-emotional development. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev (Epub ahead of print)

  13. Holt-Lunstad J (2021) A pandemic of social isolation? World Psychiatry 20:55–56

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Holt-Lunstad J, Steptoe A (2022) Social isolation: an underappreciated determinant of physical health. Curr Opin Psychol 43:232–237

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Kuriyama S, Metoki H, Kikuya M, Obara T, Ishikuro M, Yamanaka C et al (2020) Cohort profile: Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study (TMM BirThree Cohort Study): rationale, progress and perspective. Int J Epidemiol 49:18–19m

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Murakami K, Ishikuro M, Obara T, Ueno F, Noda A, Onuma T, Matsuzaki F, Kikuchi S, Kobayashi N, Hamada H, Iwama N, Metoki H, Kikuya M, Saito M, Sugawara J, Tomita H, Yaegashi N, Kuriyama S (2022) Social isolation and insomnia among pregnant women in Japan: the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study. Sleep Health 8:714–720

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Murakami K, Ishikuro M, Obara T, Ueno F, Noda A, Onuma T, Matsuzaki F, Kikuchi S, Kobayashi N, Hamada H, Iwama N, Metoki H, Kikuya M, Saito M, Sugawara J, Tomita H, Yaegashi N, Kuriyama S (2022) Social isolation and postnatal bonding disorder in Japan: the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study. Arch Womens Ment Health 25:1079–1086

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Kurimoto A, Kurita S, Okubo T, Tsubota-Utsugi M, Asayama K, Takahashi K, Suenaga K, Satoh H, Imai Y (2011) Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the abbreviated Lubben social network scale. Nippon Ronen Igakkai Zasshi 48:149–157 (article in Japanese with English abstract)

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Lubben J, Blozik E, Gillmann G, Iliffe S, von Renteln KW, Beck JC, Stuck AE (2006) Performance of an abbreviated version of the Lubben Social Network Scale among three European community-dwelling older adult populations. Gerontologist 46:503–513

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Mezawa H, Aoki S, Nakayama SF, Nitta H, Ikeda N, Kato K, Tamai S, Takekoh M, Sanefuji M, Ohga S, Oda M, Mitsubuchi H, Senju A, Kusuhara K, Kuwajima M, Koeda T, Ohya Y, Hashimoto K (2019) Psychometric profile of the Ages and stages questionnaires, Japanese translation. Pediatr Int 61:1086–1095

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Squires J, Twombly E, Bricker D, Potter L (2009) ASQ-3 user’s guide. Brookes Publishing, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  22. Hosokawa T, Ohyama M (1993) Reliability and validity of a Japanese version of the short-form Eysenck personality questionnaire—revised. Psychol Rep 72:823–832

    Google Scholar 

  23. Eysenck HJ, Eysenck SBG (1975) Manual of the eysenck personality questionnaire. Hodder & Stoughton, London UK

    Google Scholar 

  24. Eysenck SBG, Eysenck HJ, Barrett P (1985) A revised version of the psychoticism scale. Pers Individ Dif 6:21–29

    Google Scholar 

  25. Digman JM (1990) Personality structure: emergence of the five-factor model. Annu Rev Psychol 41:417–440

    Google Scholar 

  26. Furukawa TA, Kawakami N, Saitoh M, Ono Y, Nakane Y, Nakamura Y, Tachimori H, Iwata N, Uda H, Nakane H, Watanabe M, Naganuma Y, Hata Y, Kobayashi M, Miyake Y, Takeshima T, Kikkawa T (2008) The performance of the Japanese version of the K6 and K10 in the World Mental Health Survey Japan. Psychiatr Res 17:152–158

    Google Scholar 

  27. Kessler RC, Andrews G, Colpe LJ, Hiripi E, Mroczek DK, Normand SL, Walters EE, Zaslavsky AM (2002) Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychol Med 32:959–976

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Sakurai K, Nishi A, Kondo K, Yanagida K, Kawakami N (2011) Screening performance of K6/K10 and other screening instruments for mood and anxiety disorders in Japan. Psychiatry Cli Neurosci 65:434–441

    Google Scholar 

  29. Radloff LS (1977) The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Appl Psychol Meas 1:385–401

    Google Scholar 

  30. Shima S, Shikano T, Kitamura T, Asai M (1985) New self-rating scale for depression. Jpn J Clin Psychiatry 27:717–723 (article in Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Public Health England (2015) Local action on health inequalities: reducing social isolation across the lifecourse. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/461120/3a_Social_isolation-Full-revised.pdf. Accessed 20 Feb 2023

  32. Valtorta NK, Kanaan M, Gilbody S, Hanratty B (2016) Loneliness, social isolation and social relationships: what are we measuring? A novel framework for classifying and comparing tools. BMJ Open 6:e010799

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Thoits PA (2011) Mechanisms linking social ties and support to physical and mental health. J Health Soc Behav 52:145–161

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Cohen S (2004) Social relationships and health. Am Psychol 59:676–684

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Smith K, Christakis N (2008) Social networks and health. Annu Rev Sociol 34:405–429

    Google Scholar 

  36. Stein A, Pearson RM, Goodman SH, Rapa E, Rahman A, McCallum M, Howard LM, Pariante CM (2014) Effects of perinatal mental disorders on the fetus and child. Lancet 384:1800–1819

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Ono M, Honda S (2017) Association between social support and child abuse potential among Japanese mothers. Child Youth Serv Rev 73:88–92

    Google Scholar 

  38. Stith SM, Liu T, Davies LC, Boykin EL, Alder MC, Harris JM, Som A, McPherson M, Dees JE (2009) Risk factors in child maltreatment: a meta-analytic review of the literature. Aggress Violent Behav 14:13–29

    Google Scholar 

  39. Thompson RA (2015) Social support and child protection: lessons learned and learning. Child Abuse Negl 41:19–29

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Jeong J, Franchett EE, Ramos de Oliveira CV, Rehmani K, Yousafzai AK (2021) Parenting interventions to promote early child development in the first three years of life: a global systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Med 18:e1003602

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  41. Holt-Lunstad J (2018) Why social relationships are important for physical health: a systems approach to understanding and modifying risk and protection. Annu Rev Psychol 69:437–458

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. van den Berg SM, de Moor MH, Verweij KJ, Krueger RF, Luciano M, Arias Vasquez A et al (2016) Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for extraversion: findings from the genetics of personality consortium. Behav Genet 46:170–182

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Cassiello-Robbins C, Wilner JG, Sauer-Zavala S (2017) Neuroticism. In: Zeigler-Hill V, Shackelford T (eds) Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences. Springer, Cham

    Google Scholar 

  44. Richter LM, Daelmans B, Lombardi J, Heymann J, Boo FL, Behrman JR, Lu C, Lucas JE, Perez-Escamilla R, Dua T, Bhutta ZA, Stenberg K, Gertler P, Darmstadt GL, Paper 3 Working Group and the Lancet Early Childhood Development Series Steering Committee (2017) Investing in the foundation of sustainable development: pathways to scale up for early childhood development. Lancet 389:103–118

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Honda H, Kita T, Hirano M, Saeki K (2020) A strategy to rescue mothers from isolated parenting: development of the “social connectivity of mother with people in the community scale.” Child Youth Serv Rev 118:105395

    Google Scholar 

  46. Yamazaki S, Akiyama Y, Shinohara R, Yamagata Z (2022) Social isolation among mothers caring for Infants in Japan: findings from the Nationwide Survey of healthy parents and children 21. Matern Child Health J 26:1549–1558

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2020) Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions in Japan, 2019. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/k-tyosa/k-tyosa19/index.html (in Japanese). Accessed 20 Feb 2023

  48. Cabinet Office (2022) Annual report on the declining birthrate 2022. https://www8.cao.go.jp/shoushi/shoushika/whitepaper/measures/w-2022/r04webhonpen/index.html (in Japanese). Accessed 20 Feb 2023

  49. Bauer A, Stevens M, Purtscheller D, Knapp M, Fonagy P, Evans-Lacko S, Paul J (2021) Mobilising social support to improve mental health for children and adolescents: a systematic review using principles of realist synthesis. PLoS One 16:e0251750

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their appreciation to the participants in the TMM BirThree Cohort Study and the staff members of the Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization. The full list of members is available at https://www.megabank.tohoku.ac.jp/english/a220901/.

Funding

The TMM BirThree Cohort Study was supported by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), Japan [grant number, JP17km0105001, JP21tm0124005]. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP21K10490, and a research grant from the Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare, Japan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8573, Japan

    Keiko Murakami, Aoi Noda, Mami Ishikuro, Taku Obara, Fumihiko Ueno, Tomomi Onuma, Noriyuki Iwama, Hirohito Metoki, Masahiro Kikuya, Junichi Sugawara, Hiroaki Tomita, Nobuo Yaegashi & Shinichi Kuriyama

  2. Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8575, Japan

    Keiko Murakami, Aoi Noda, Mami Ishikuro, Taku Obara, Fumihiko Ueno, Saya Kikuchi, Natsuko Kobayashi, Hirotaka Hamada, Noriyuki Iwama, Masatoshi Saito, Junichi Sugawara, Hiroaki Tomita, Nobuo Yaegashi & Shinichi Kuriyama

  3. Tohoku University Hospital, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8574, Japan

    Aoi Noda, Taku Obara, Saya Kikuchi, Natsuko Kobayashi, Hirotaka Hamada, Noriyuki Iwama, Masatoshi Saito, Junichi Sugawara, Hiroaki Tomita & Nobuo Yaegashi

  4. Faculty of Medicine, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 1-15-1 Fukumuro, Miyagino-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 983-8536, Japan

    Hirohito Metoki

  5. Teikyo University School of Medicine, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8605, Japan

    Masahiro Kikuya

  6. International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8573, Japan

    Hiroaki Tomita & Shinichi Kuriyama

Authors
  1. Keiko Murakami
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aoi Noda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mami Ishikuro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Taku Obara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Fumihiko Ueno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Tomomi Onuma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Saya Kikuchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Natsuko Kobayashi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Hirotaka Hamada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Noriyuki Iwama
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Hirohito Metoki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Masahiro Kikuya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Masatoshi Saito
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Junichi Sugawara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Hiroaki Tomita
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Nobuo Yaegashi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Shinichi Kuriyama
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

KM was responsible for the study conception, design, analysis, interpretation of the data, and the drafting of the manuscript. AN, MI, TO, FU, TO, NI, HM, MK, JS, HT, and NY: contributed to data collection and interpretation of the data. SK, NK, HH, and MS: contributed to interpretation of the data. SK: contributed to data collection and provided advice regarding critically important intellectual content and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors provided critical feedback and approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keiko Murakami.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The TMM BirThree Cohort Study protocol was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Tohoku University Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization (2013-1-103-1).

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent to publish

There are no details on individual participants within the manuscript.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Murakami, K., Noda, A., Ishikuro, M. et al. Maternal social isolation in the perinatal period and early childhood development: the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 58, 1593–1601 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02498-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02498-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation