The importance of family support profiles in the wellbeing of parents of an infant: Loneliness and positive affect. Preliminary analysis

Abstract

Introduction. Higher levels of family support have been associated with better mental health. Family support can be especially relevant for parents of infant-children, due to the high level of stress and demands that caring for a infant can involve. This study analyzes potential differences between parents of an infant child who report high, medium or low levels of family support on indicators of mental health (positive affect and perceived loneliness). Methods. Participants were 64 parents of an infant child (28-52 years old; 65.6% woman). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted in order to explore the differences between the three family support groups (low, medium, and high) and the assessed variables (positive affect and perceived loneliness). Results. The results suggest that parents with high levels of family support reported significantly more positive affect and less loneliness than the other two groups (low and medium levels of family support). No differences were found in positive affect and perceived loneliness between the low and medium family support groups. Discussion. The results of this study support the relevance of family support for parents of an infant child. They also suggest that it is relevant to pay special attention to parents with low and medium family support in order to detect and treat possible mental health distress.