TY - JOUR

T1 - Parents’ life satisfaction prior to and following preterm birth

AU - Eves, Robert

AU - Baumann, Nicole

AU - Bilgin, Ayten

AU - Schnitzlein, Daniel

AU - Richter, David

AU - Wolke, Dieter

AU - Lemola, Sakari

N1 - Funding Information: Understanding Society is an initiative funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and various Government Departments, with scientific leadership by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, and survey delivery by The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and Verian (formerly Kantar Public). The research data are distributed by the UK Data Service. Prior presentations of the study: Provisional results from this research were presented at the 52nd DGPs congress in Hildesheim, September 2022. Funding Information: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The British Household Panel study and the Understanding Society study were predominantly funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. The SOEP has been predominantly funded by the DFG (German Science Foundation – Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). DW is supported by the UKRI Frontier Research Grant EP/XO23206/1 (ERC-AdG reviewed). SL and DS were supported by The PremLife project. The PremLife project is financially supported by the NORFACE Joint Research Programme on Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course, which is co-funded by the European Commission through Horizon 2020 under grant agreement No 724363 (Grant Number 462-16-040) and by the German Research Foundation (DFG), grant number SCHN 1501/3-1. The funders of these projects had no role in the analysis or interpretation of this study, or in the decision to submit this manuscript for publication. Funding Information: Understanding Society is an initiative funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and various Government Departments, with scientific leadership by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, and survey delivery by The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and Verian (formerly Kantar Public). The research data are distributed by the UK Data Service. Prior presentations of the study: Provisional results from this research were presented at the 52nd DGPs congress in Hildesheim, September 2022.

PY - 2023/12/1

Y1 - 2023/12/1

N2 - The current study tested whether the reported lower wellbeing of parents after preterm birth, relative to term birth, is a continuation of a pre-existing diference before pregnancy. Parents from Germany (the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, N= 10,649) and the United Kingdom (British Household Panel Study and Understanding Society, N= 11,012) reported their new-born’s birthweight and gestational age, subsequently categorised as very preterm or very low birthweight (VP/VLBW, < 32 weeks or < 1500 g), moderately/late preterm or low birthweight (MLP/LBW, ≥32 weeks and < 37 weeks/≥ 1500 g and < 2500 g), or term-born (≥ 37 weeks and ≥ 2500 g). Mixed models were used to analyse life satisfaction, an aspect of wellbeing, at four assessments-two years and six months before birth and six months and two years afterwards. Two years before birth, satisfaction of prospective term-born, MLP/LBW, or VP/VLBW mothers did not signifcantly difer. However, mothers of VP/ VLBWs had lower satisfaction relative to mothers of term-borns at both assessments post-birth. Among fathers, satisfaction levels were similarly equivalent two years before birth. Subsequently, fathers of VP/VLBWs temporarily difered in satisfaction six months post-birth relative to fathers of term-borns. Results indicate that parents’ lower life satisfaction after VP/VLBW birth is not a continuation of pre-existing life satisfaction diferences.

AB - The current study tested whether the reported lower wellbeing of parents after preterm birth, relative to term birth, is a continuation of a pre-existing diference before pregnancy. Parents from Germany (the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, N= 10,649) and the United Kingdom (British Household Panel Study and Understanding Society, N= 11,012) reported their new-born’s birthweight and gestational age, subsequently categorised as very preterm or very low birthweight (VP/VLBW, < 32 weeks or < 1500 g), moderately/late preterm or low birthweight (MLP/LBW, ≥32 weeks and < 37 weeks/≥ 1500 g and < 2500 g), or term-born (≥ 37 weeks and ≥ 2500 g). Mixed models were used to analyse life satisfaction, an aspect of wellbeing, at four assessments-two years and six months before birth and six months and two years afterwards. Two years before birth, satisfaction of prospective term-born, MLP/LBW, or VP/VLBW mothers did not signifcantly difer. However, mothers of VP/ VLBWs had lower satisfaction relative to mothers of term-borns at both assessments post-birth. Among fathers, satisfaction levels were similarly equivalent two years before birth. Subsequently, fathers of VP/VLBWs temporarily difered in satisfaction six months post-birth relative to fathers of term-borns. Results indicate that parents’ lower life satisfaction after VP/VLBW birth is not a continuation of pre-existing life satisfaction diferences.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85178475721&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-023-48582-8

DO - 10.1038/s41598-023-48582-8

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85178475721

VL - 13

JO - Scientific reports

JF - Scientific reports

SN - 2045-2322

M1 - 21233

ER -