Psychological adaptation and birth outcomes: The role of personal resources, stress, and sociocultural context in pregnancy.

Christine Killingsworth Rini,Christine Dunkel-Schetter,Pathik D Wadhwa,Curt A Sandman

doi:10.1037/0278-6133.18.4.333

Abstract

Prenatal psychosocial predictors of infant birth weight and length of gestation were investigated in a prospective study of 120 Hispanic and 110 White pregnant women. Hypotheses specifying that personal resources (mastery, self-esteem, optimism), prenatal stress (state and pregnancy anxiety), and sociocultural factors (income, education, ethnicity) would have different effects on birth outcomes were tested using structural equation modeling. Results confirmed that women with stronger resources had higher birth weight babies (beta = .21), whereas those reporting more stress had shorter gestations (beta = -.20). Resources were also associated with lower stress (beta = -.67), being married, being White, having higher income and education, and giving birth for the first time. There was no evidence that resources buffered the effects of stress. The importance of personal resources in pregnancy is highlighted along with implications for understanding the etiology of adverse birth outcomes.

Highlights

Title Psychological adaptation and birth outcomes: the role of personal resources, stress, and sociocultural context in pregnancy
This study examined several aspects of adaptation during pregnancy and their association with two important birth outcomes
Adaptation was conceptualized as prenatal psychosocial "stress, personal resources, and some aspects of the woman's sociocultural context

Summary

Introduction

Title Psychological adaptation and birth outcomes: the role of personal resources, stress, and sociocultural context in pregnancy. Psychological Adaptation and Birth Outcomes: The Role of Personal Resources, Stress, and Sociocultural Context in Pregnancy. Hypotheses specifying that personal resources (mastery, self-esteem, optimism), prenatal stress (state and pregnancy anxiety), and sociocultural factors (income, education, ethnicity) would have different effects on birth outcomes were tested using structural equation modeling. Understanding psychological adaptation during pregnancy and its effects on birth outcomes requires consideration of the many factors that may affect prenatal adaptation. These factors include psychological resources and vulnerabilities and a woman's sociocultural milieu

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