603 - Family resilience as a moderator for adverse childhood experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and child well-being at 36-months in the COMBO Initiative

Poster Number: 603
Publication Number: 603.2097

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic heightened several risk factors that have the potential to negatively impact child well-being, including in utero SARS-CoV-2 infection, financial insecurity, and confinement-related stress. Although adverse childhood experiences (ACES) such as these can negatively affect everything from the immune system to the socioemotional development of children, family resilience has been shown to moderate and buffer against such negative impacts.

Objective: Here, we investigated whether in utero exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and family socioeconomic status (SES) impact whether children born during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic are meeting developmental milestones at 3 years of age.

Design/Methods: Using data from 136 mother-infant dyads enrolled in the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes (COMBO) Initiative, mother and child 36 month-related measures were collected through maternal self-report responses while prenatal COVID-19 status and SES data were obtained from electronic medical records. Child development was assessed using the Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC) at 36 months. Family resilience was assessed using the 6 subscales of the 54-item version of the Family Resilience Assessment Scale (FRAS): Family Communication and Problem Solving, Utilizing Social and Economic Resources, Maintaining a Positive Outlook, Family Connectedness, Family Spirituality, and Ability to Make Meaning of Adversity.

Results: Maternal SES, measured using insurance status, was significantly correlated with meeting developmental milestones at 36 months for the child though in utero exposure to SARS-CoV-2 was not found to be significant at a 5% level of significance. In our sample, 93 children met their age appropriate SWYC developmental milestone threshold (68.38%), and 43 of these 93 (47.31%) were considered low-income (insured by Medicaid). Comparatively, 29 of 43 children who did not meet their SWYC developmental milestone were considered low-income (67.44%)., with the odds of commercially insured children meeting milestones being 2.3 times that of Medicaid-insured children (OR=2.3, 95% CI=(1.10, 5.02)). For both socioeconomic status and in utero SARS-CoV-2 exposure, no subscale of family resilience was not a significant moderator. These results will be supported with approximately 200 more dyads we expect to collect data from by April 2024.

Conclusion(s): Preliminary results suggest that family resilience is not a moderator for either SES’s significant or in utero SARS-CoV-2 exposure’s nonsignificant association with child development at 36 months.