Sample Information: 54 children (21 girls, 34 boys) between 36 & 54 months with:

1. Maternal Perception of Child Vulnerability in Preschoolers Born Very Low Birth WeightPeggy MacLean, Ph.D., Sarah Erickson, Ph.D., & Jean Lowe Ph.D. • Perceptions held by parents that one’s child is highly vulnerable to illness, injury, and/or death • Many have discussed the risk of PPCV among parents of children born preterm • Are parents of children born preterm more vulnerable to PPCV? • Few studies comparing preterm versus full-term • Findings are mixed (Perrin et al., 1989; Stern et al., 2004) • Although warranted & potentially adaptive at first, the continuation of PPCV after a child is considered healthy may be maladaptive

2. PPCV has also been associated with a host of maternal psychosocial, child neonatal health factors, & maternal socio-demographic factors • More current child health factors have not fully examined though • Study Overview • Examine the relationship between PPCV & observed maternal behaviors (i.e., maternal overprotection, maternal hostility, maternal responsiveness) during mother-child interaction tasks • Clarify the relative role of health-related variables in PPCV • Examine the role of contextual factors in PPCV, more specifically maternal psychosocial factors, child health-related factors, & socio-demographic factors

3. Sample Information: • 54 children (21 girls, 34 boys) between 36 & 54 months with: • Birth weights <1500g (mean=1181.43, SD= 286.33) • Gestational ages < 32 wks (mean= 29.25, SD= 2.32) • 13 were Caucasian, 31 were Hispanic, 5 were Native American, & 5 were African Americans • Mean length of NICU hospitalization= 57.39, SD=36.28 • Study Variables/ Measures • PPCV →Child Vulnerability Scale • Maternal intrusiveness, hostility, & responsiveness→ National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Study coding system • Neonatal illness severity→ Length of ventilation • Post-neonatal health → # of rehospitalizations, # of current medication, & height & weight for age • Functional health impairment → Health Status Classification System-Preschool Version

4. Study Variables/ Measures Cont’d • Socio-demographic factors →Maternal age, household income, maternal relationship status, maternal education level, child age, child gender • Maternal psychosocial factors • Depression symptoms → Beck Depression Inventory-II • Anxiety symptoms → State-Trait Anxiety Inventory • Maternal sense of parenting confidence → Sense of Competence Scale of the Parenting Stress Index • Maternal perception of social support→ Personal Resource Questionnaire • When looking at the whole sample: • Scores on the CVS were generally low (mean of 5.65, SD=3.96) • PPCV was not significantly related to observed maternal intrusiveness, hostility, & responsively, even after controlling for child health factors • When examining relative contributions of child health-related factors: • child rehospitalization (b = .314, t(1, 51) = 2.59, p < .05)

5. When examining relative contributions of all factors: • Maternal depressive symptoms (b = .457, t(2, 48) = 3.768, p < .001) & child rehospitalization (b = .366, t(2, 48) = 3.018, p < .01) • When looking at mothers who scored in the clinical range: • Correlation between CVS & observed maternal responsiveness=.572 (ns) • When examining relative contributions of all factors: • only child’s functional health impairment (b = .795, t(1, 9) = 3.708, p < .01) • Implications: • Overall low scores, comparable to mothers of full-term healthy children • Highlights the importance of examining PPCV in older children born preterm • Importance of current health factors • # of rehospitalizations→ Reminder of continued health difficulties? • McCormick et al., 1993 • Child functional health impairments → Daily reminders? • Importance of maternal psychosocial health → Depressive symptoms