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Maternal social isolation and behavioral problems in preschool children: the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study

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Abstract

It is essential to clarify factors associated with mental health and behavioral problems in early childhood, because children are critical stages of life for mental health. We aimed to prospectively examine the associations between maternal social isolation and behavioral problems in preschool children. We analyzed data from 5842 mother–child pairs who participated in the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study. The Lubben Social Network Scale-abbreviated version was used to assess social isolation (defined as scores < 12) one year after delivery. The Child Behavior Checklist 1½–5 was used to assess behavioral problems, and its subscales were used to assess internalizing and externalizing problems in children at 4 years of age. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between social isolation and behavioral problems, after adjustment for age, education, income, work status, marital status, extraversion, neuroticism, depressive symptoms, child sex, and number of siblings. Multiple logistic regression analyses were also conducted for internalizing problems and externalizing problems. The prevalence of maternal social isolation was 25.4%. Maternal social isolation was associated with an increased risk of behavioral problems in children: the odds ratio (OR) was 1.37 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14–1.64). Maternal social isolation was also associated with increased risks of internalizing problems and externalizing problems in children: the ORs were 1.33 (95% CI, 1.12–1.59) and 1.40 (95% CI, 1.18–1.66), respectively. In conclusion, maternal social isolation one year after delivery was associated with behavioral problems in children at 4 years of age.

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Data availability

The data obtained through the TMM BirThree Cohort Study are incorporated into the TMM biobank. All data analyzed during the present study are available for research purpose with the approval by the Sample and Data Access Committee of the Biobank.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their appreciation to the participants in the TMM BirThree Cohort Study and the staff members of the Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization. The full list of members is available at https://www.megabank.tohoku.ac.jp/english/a220901/.

Funding

The TMM BirThree Cohort Study was supported by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), Japan [Grant no. JP17km0105001, JP21tm0124005]. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) [Grant no. 21K10490] from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, and a research grant from the Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo-Machi, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8573, Japan

    Keiko Murakami, Mami Ishikuro, Taku Obara, Fumihiko Ueno, Aoi Noda, Tomomi Onuma, Fumiko Matsuzaki, Noriyuki Iwama, Hirohito Metoki, Masahiro Kikuya, Junichi Sugawara, Hiroaki Tomita, Nobuo Yaegashi & Shinichi Kuriyama

  2. Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo-Machi, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8575, Japan

    Keiko Murakami, Mami Ishikuro, Taku Obara, Fumihiko Ueno, Aoi Noda, Fumiko Matsuzaki, Ippei Takahashi, Saya Kikuchi, Natsuko Kobayashi, Hirotaka Hamada, Noriyuki Iwama, Masatoshi Saito, Junichi Sugawara, Hiroaki Tomita, Nobuo Yaegashi & Shinichi Kuriyama

  3. Tohoku University Hospital, 1-1 Seiryo-Machi, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8574, Japan

    Taku Obara, Aoi Noda, Saya Kikuchi, Natsuko Kobayashi, Hirotaka Hamada, Noriyuki Iwama, Masatoshi Saito, Junichi Sugawara, Hiroaki Tomita & Nobuo Yaegashi

  4. Faculty of Medicine, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 1-15-1 Fukumuro, Miyagino-Ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 983-8536, Japan

    Hirohito Metoki

  5. Teikyo University School of Medicine, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-Ku, Tokyo, 173-8605, Japan

    Masahiro Kikuya

  6. International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo-Machi, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8573, Japan

    Hiroaki Tomita & Shinichi Kuriyama

Authors
  1. Keiko Murakami
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  2. Mami Ishikuro
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  3. Taku Obara
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  19. Shinichi Kuriyama
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Contributions

KM was responsible for the study conception, design, analysis, interpretation of the data, and the drafting of the manuscript. MI, T. Obara, FU, AN, T. Onuma, FM, IT, NI, HM, MK, JS, HT, and NY contributed to data collection and interpretation of the data. S. Kikuchi., NK, HH, and MS contributed to interpretation of the data. S. Kuriyama contributed to data collection and provided advice regarding critically important intellectual content and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors provided critical feedback and approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keiko Murakami.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Ethical approval

The TMM BirThree Cohort Study protocol was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Tohoku University Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization (2013-1-103-1).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Murakami, K., Ishikuro, M., Obara, T. et al. Maternal social isolation and behavioral problems in preschool children: the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 33, 761–769 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02199-4

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