The role of perceived social support on pregnant women’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Purpose

The present study aimed at investigating which sources of social support best account for pregnant women’s levels of psychological distress and mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

274 Italian and Canadian expectant mothers completed an online-based survey including measures of perceived social support (from family, significant other and friends), state anxiety, depressive symptoms, and satisfaction with life. Correlation analyses and amultivariate analysis of covariance were performed to explore how social support from different sources was related to depressive symptoms, state anxiety and satisfaction with life.

Results

Different sources of social support contributed to explaining women’s psychological distress and mental well-being. Social support both from family and friends was significantly related to women’s state anxiety and depressive symptoms. Social support from friends was specifically related to women’s satisfaction with life.

Conclusion

Our findings endorse the crucial role of perceived social support as a protective factor for pregnant women’s mental health. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, our results suggest that support from family seems important in preventing psychological distress, whereas support from friends is also associated with mental well-being. These results may help designing future interventions aimed at improving women’s perinatal mental health in life-threatening conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Women
• pregnancy
• mental health
• pandemic
• COVID-19
• social support

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the women who participated to this study.

Data Availability Statement

The data for this study is available upon request addressed directly to the Research Ethics Boards ([email protected]). The dataset is not publicly available due to ethical restrictions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Contributors details

Giulia Corno: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - Original Draft Preparation, Writing - Review & Editing Preparation, Visualization Preparation, Project administration, Funding acquisition

Daniela Villani: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - Original Draft Preparation, Writing - Review & Editing Preparation, Supervision, Project administration

Francine de Montigny: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing - Original Draft Preparation, Writing - Review & Editing Preparation, Project administration, Supervision, Funding acquisition

Tamarha Pierce: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - Review & Editing Preparation, Supervision

Stéphane Bouchard: Formal analysis, Writing - Original Draft Preparation, Writing - Review & Editing Preparation, Visualization Preparation, Supervision, Funding acquisition

Sara Molgora: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - Original Draft Preparation, Writing - Review & Editing Preparation, Supervision, Project administration

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fond de Recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS); the Canadian Chair in Clinical Cyberpsychology; and the Canadian Research Chair in psychosocial family health.