Black American Mothers’ Preterm Births and Children’s Attention Outcomes: Understanding the Moderating effects of Parenting and Environmental enhancers Open Access

Abstract

Previous research has found that Black American children born prematurely had a higher chance of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes than children born within normal gestational ages. Additionally, Black American mothers with lower socioeconomic status (SES) have been found to be at twice the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight than white mothers. Given these risk patterns, it is essential to represent minority communities in the scientific literature linking preterm birth and child neurodevelopment. This study focuses on the relationship between preterm birth and children’s attention problems in a sample of 288 Black American families. Participants were recruited from prenatal clinics and followed throughout their pregnancies, with their children then followed through the preschool period of development. Children’s attention was measured via the preschool Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Neighborhood environments were geocoded and evaluated based on the child opportunity index (COI). Positive parenting characteristics were coded offline from videos of mothers playing with their children. We hypothesized that preterm birth would be associated with more attention problems in children, and that the relationship between preterm birth and attention problems would be weaker if there were higher levels of positive parenting or a stronger neighborhood environment (more opportunities for children). The study results did not support our hypotheses. These results suggest that Black American mothers’ preterm births do not directly predict later attention problems in children. Instead we found a significant correlation between a mother’s prenatal stress and children’s attention problems, suggesting that other perinatal risks might be more important to focus on than prematurity in Black American populations to improve cognitive outcomes in children.

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………….………………..……………………...…….…..1

Methods……………………………………….………………..……………………………....…7

Results…………………………………………………………..……………………...………...11

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics……….……………………..………………………...…………..11

Table 2. Correlations.…………..………………..……………….………………………...….…13

Table 3. Correlations: Preterm births as a predictor of Children’s Attention Outcomes…….......14

Table 4. Correlations: Parenting and Environmental Enhancers as a Moderator……………......15

Discussion……………………………………………………..………………….…………..….16

References…………………………………...………………..……………………….….....…..23

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Psychology
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Developmental Psychology, General Psychology, Cognitive
Keyword	Black American Environment Attention Preterm Prematurity Children Mothers Parenting
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Brennan, Patricia, Emory University
Committee Members	O'Toole, Kate, Emory University Yamasaki, Brianna L., Emory University

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