Abstract
Preconception and prenatal stress impact fetal and infant development, and women of color are disproportionately exposed to sociocultural stressors like discrimination and acculturative stress. However, few studies examine links between mothers' exposure to these stressors and offspring mental health, or possible mitigating factors. Using linear regression, we tested associations between prenatally assessed maternal acculturative stress and discrimination on infant negative emotionality among 113 Latinx/Hispanic, Asian American, Black, and Multiethnic mothers and their children. Additionally, we tested interactions between stressors and potential pre- and postnatal resilience-promoting factors: community cohesion, social support, communalism, and parenting self-efficacy. Discrimination and acculturative stress were related to more infant negative emotionality at approximately 12 months old (M = 12.6, SD = .75). In contrast, maternal report of parenting self-efficacy when infants were 6 months old was related to lower levels of infant negative emotionality. Further, higher levels of parenting self-efficacy mitigated the relation between acculturative stress and negative emotionality. Preconception and prenatal exposure to sociocultural stress may be a risk factor for poor offspring mental health. Maternal and child health researchers, policymakers, and practitioners should prioritize further understanding these relations, reducing exposure to sociocultural stressors, and promoting resilience.
Highlights
Racial and ethnic health disparities are persistent and costly, carrying massive negative social, health, and fiscal consequences (Ayanian, 2015; National Center for Health Statistics, 2021; Weinstein et al, 2017)
Everyday discrimination and acculturative were related to more negative emotionality, while parenting self-efficacy and Gestational age at birth (GAB) were related to less negative emotionality
The far reaching effects of mental health disorders in childhood are disproportionately felt by youth of color (Alegria et al, 2010; Marrast et al, 2016), emphasizing the importance of understanding and intervening with early antecedents and precipitants of childhood mental health challenges
Summary
Study participants were a subsample of 113 mothers and their children (53% male) who identified as a race or ethnicity other than White, drawn from a larger longitudinal study beginning in pregnancy. Our sample consisted of 69% of mothers selfidentifying as Latinx/Hispanic, 15% as Asian American, 11.5% as Multiethnic, and 4.4% as Black.. Latinx/Hispanic Asian American Multiethnic Black Maternal nativity (foreign born) Maternal education level High school or less Some college, associates, vocational/technical, or certificate College Graduate Child’s mother and father cohabitating Child sex (female) Child birth order (first) Household primary language (English) Household income. Participants were recruited from Southern California medical clinics during their first trimester of pregnancy. A third of participants (31.9%) were born outside the U.S about a third of the sample spoke a language other than English in their household (35.4%). There was a wide distribution of maternal education level, with 30.1% completing high school or less, 49.6% having some college, an associate degree, or a vocational or certificate program degree. 20.3% of the sample had completed college or graduate school
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