390 - Constructive Conflict in Caregivers Predicts Positive Child Developmental Outcomes At 3 Years Old in Children Born at the Height of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Poster Number: 390
Publication Number: 390.307

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has not only given rise to but also intensified detrimental factors that have been previously identified in the literature as having a negative impact on child development, notably maternal depression and partner conflict. Conflict tactics can be categorized as constructive (showing respect or problem solving) or destructive (verbal, physical or sexual aggression). Parental conflict tactics, closely linked to parental mental health, take place in the environment where children grow and can impact their development, underscoring the necessity for more developmental research in this field.

Objective: Examine the impact of partner conflict and maternal depression on developmental milestone achievement at 3 years old in children born during the pandemic.

Design/Methods: Participants include a subset of mother-baby dyads enrolled in the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes (COMBO) Initiative. When children were 3 years old, maternal depression, maternal conflict tactic style and child development were measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), Conflict Tactic Style Short Form (CTS2S), and Survey of Wellbeing in Young Children (SWYC). Depression was also measured at 18 months to assess predictive power of depression on child developmental outcomes. An adjusted logistic regression model was used to predict SWYC threshold scores (scored: “needs review” or “appears to meet age expectations”).

Results: In a sample of n=222 mothers who completed the SWYC assessment, approximately 70% of the children fell in the “appears to meet age expectations” range. Maternal depression at both 18 months and 36 months was found to have significant negative bivariate correlations with total SWYC scores (r = -0.33, p<.001, r = -0.37, p<.001), indicating that higher levels of maternal depression were associated with lower child developmental scores. A logistic regression model was estimated adjusting for family income and using intimate partner violence, constructive conflict, verbal aggression, and maternal depression at 18 and 36 months as predictors of SWYC cutoff scores. Greater constructive conflict tactic use was associated with higher odds that children met expected developmental milestones for their age on the SWYC (OR=1.07, 95%CI=1.008-1.16, p = 0.0391).

Conclusion(s): Constructive conflict was identified as an important predictor of child development, suggesting that early exposure to respectful conflict resolution promotes positive, age-appropriate developmental trajectory in children born during the COVID-19 pandemic.