Mother's Perceived Social Support and Children's Dental Caries in Northern Appalachia

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine whether perceived social support among mothers with high levels of dental caries was associated with their children experiencing high levels of dental caries. Methods: In West Virginia and Pennsylvania from 2002 to 2009, mothers were interviewed and clinical exams were conducted on their one- to six-year-old children. Two hundred and fifty mother-child dyads were analyzed where the mother had high dental caries. Mothers reported perceived social support across four domains (appraisal, tangible, self-esteem, belonging) from the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List instrument (ISEL), with higher scores representing greater support. The association between each social support domain and the probability of high child dental caries was examined. Results: Twenty-seven percent of children (67 out of 250) had high dental caries, and the odds of children having high caries was lower by seven percent for every one point increase in the ISEL appraisal score (odds ratio equals 0.93; 95 percent confidence interval equals 0.88, 0.99). Tangible, self-esteem, and belonging social support ISEL subscales were not significantly associated with high child dental caries (P> 0.05). Conclusions: Among mothers with high dental caries, there was modest evidence that appraisal support-the perceived availability of someone to talk to about problems-was asso-ciated with lower odds of their children having high dental caries.