TY - GEN A1 - Grosser, Angelique A1 - Doyle, Ina-Merle A1 - Löffler, Antje A1 - Breckenkamp, Jürgen A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Razum, Oliver A1 - Miani, Celine T1 - The impact of psychosocial factors on breastfeeding duration in the BaBi cohort study, Germany T2 - European Journal of Public Health N2 - Background: Breastfeeding is considered beneficial for both mother and child. In Germany, national guidelines recommend fully breastfeeding for at least 4 months, a goal reached by only 34% of mothers in 2012. The WHO’s recommendation of exclusively breastfeeding for six months was met by 19% only. Hardly modifiable factors such as socio-economic status and migration background have been associated with duration of breastfeeding but little is known about the impact of psychosocial factors such as personality traits and social support. We hypothesise that there are differences in the psychosocial profiles of mothers regarding the duration of breastfeeding. Methods: We analyse baseline and follow-up data of the Bielefeld BaBi birth cohort (2013-16). They include detailed migration and socio-economic backgrounds, as well as three measures of psychological characteristics: the optimism scale, the Big Five inventory and the locus of control scales. We perform bivariate and multivariate analyses in order to identify psychosocial determinants of fully breastfeeding for four and six months. Results: Out of 780 BaBi study participants, 548 fully breastfed for four months (70.3%), of which 279 continued until at least six months (35.8%). Logistic regression analyses show that fully breastfeeding for at least four or six months is independently associated with the intention to breastfeed and the attendance of antenatal class during this or previous pregnancies. Personality characteristics, social status and migration background show however no significant association with breastfeeding duration. Conclusions: Our study results support the promotion of individuals’ breastfeeding intention and attendance to antenatal classes to increase breastfeeding duration. Since differences in breastfeeding practices have the potential to create inequalities in maternal and child health, more efforts are needed to intensify research on modifiable factors influencing breastfeeding duration. KW - breastfeeding KW - cohort study KW - psychosocial Y1 - 2019 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-UBICO/frontdoor/index/index/docId/24908 SN - 1464-360X SN - 1101-1262 VL - 29 IS - 4 ER -