{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T08:38:00Z","timestamp":1775032680811,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775001600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Early pregnancy is associated with increased psychosocial vulnerability, which has been linked to factors associated with child maltreatment. However, previous research has predominantly focused on teenagers, and little is known about whether first-time mothers in their early-to-mid twenties also exhibit elevated psychosocial risks. This observational cross-sectional study aimed to determine whether psychosocial risk factors associated with child maltreatment are more prevalent among first-time mothers aged 17\u201325\u202fyears in Japan, compared with those aged 26\u202fyears and older.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Routine administrative data were collected in July 2022 from 429 first-time pregnant women aged 17\u201343\u202fyears who submitted pregnancy notifications to their local municipal office in four municipalities in the Tokyo metropolitan area, Japan. A cumulative psychosocial risk score was calculated by summing six binary indicators: being unmarried, living alone, low household income, low educational attainment, poor mental well-being, and low perceived social support. A segmented regression analysis was used to identify the age at which the association with cumulative psychosocial risk changed.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The association between maternal age and psychosocial risk factors associated with child maltreatment was most prominent up to age 26. A data-driven breakpoint at 25.9\u202fyears suggested that younger age was associated with greater psychosocial risk. Younger mothers (ages 17\u201325,\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f158) were more likely to be unmarried, live alone, have a low socioeconomic status, and have lower educational attainment compared with older mothers (ages 26\u201343,\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f271;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.005).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>First-time pregnant women aged 17\u201325\u202fyears in Japan exhibited higher levels of psychosocial risk factors associated with child maltreatment compared with those aged 26\u202fyears and older. These findings suggest that, in addition to teenagers, women in their early-to-mid twenties should be recognized as a priority group for early preventive support within maternal and child health systems. Integrating age-informed approaches into public maternal health policy and antenatal care may help strengthen early prevention child maltreatment.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1747731","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T05:43:54Z","timestamp":1775022234000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Identifying age 26 as a threshold in psychosocial risks associated with child maltreatment among first-time mothers: a cross-sectional study in Japan"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Kaori","family":"Baba","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]},{"name":"Graduate School of Nursing Science, St. Luke\u2019s International University","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Syudo","family":"Yamasaki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Junko","family":"Niimura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Naomi","family":"Nakajima","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Stanyon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mitsuhiro","family":"Miyashita","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Satoshi","family":"Yamaguchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Miharu","family":"Nakanishi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]},{"name":"Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University","place":["Sendai, Miyagi, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sachiko","family":"Kita","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan","place":["Ann Arbor, MI, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing, Institute of Science Tokyo","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mariko","family":"Hiraiwa-Hasegawa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]},{"name":"School of Advanced Science, SOKENDAI (Graduate University for Advanced Studies)","place":["Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shuntaro","family":"Ando","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kiyoto","family":"Kasai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]},{"name":"The International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS)","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Susan M.","family":"Sawyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children\u2019s Hospital, and Murdoch Children\u2019s Research Institute","place":["Melbourne, VIC, Australia"]},{"name":"Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne","place":["Melbourne, VIC, Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Atsushi","family":"Nishida","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit for Mental Health Promotion, Research Center for Social Science and Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"740","DOI":"10.1016\/S1701-2163(15)30180-8","article-title":"Adolescent pregnancy guidelines","volume":"37","author":"Fleming","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Obstet Gynaecol 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