PRENATAL CORRELATES OF INDIGENT MOTHERS ATTITUDES ABOUT SPOILING THEIR YOUNG INFANTS - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors associated with i ndigent mothers' attitudes about spoiling their young infants. Mothers who believe that young infants can be spoiled may be more likely to m isperceive their infants' basic needs for nurturing and thus undermine their infants' sense of security and trust. One hundred twenty-nine c onsecutive pregnant women who were at approximately 15 weeks' gestatio n completed measures to assess depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemi ologic Studies Depression Scale) and social support (Maternal Social S upport Index). One hundred seventeen mothers (91%) completed a simple three-question Spoiling Index when their infants were about 1 month ol d. Fifty-eight percent were single, never married, 73% multiparous, 66 % Euro-American, 28% African-American, and 84% at least 20 years old. Fifty-eight percent of mothers believed infants younger than 5 months old could be spoiled. After including maternal age, race, marital stat us, prenatal social support, and number of prenatal clinic visits in t he hierarchical logistic regression model, ''spoilers'' were more like ly to be primigravida mothers (odds ratio = 2.71; 95% confidence inter val, 1.05 to 7.06) and more likely to be depressed during pregnancy (o dds ratio = 2.83; 95% confidence interval, 1.29 to 6.19). Primigravida indigent mothers and mothers with higher levels of prenatal depressiv e symptoms are more likely to believe they can spoil their young infan ts.