Doctoral Dissertation Research: Societal expectations of motherhood and maternal stress during pregnancy

在怀孕期间，美国妇女收到了关于适当行为的相互竞争的信息，这些行为反映了社会对母亲的期望。研究显示，怀孕和分娩期间关于最佳实践的相互矛盾的信息经常会让孕妇在试图决定遵循哪种专家建议时感到焦虑。然而，还没有研究探讨女性做出这些决定的经历如何影响自我感觉到的压力或生理压力反应。此外，很少有研究将社会期望与情绪和生理压力水平联系起来。将文化信仰与生物反应联系起来，为解释美国早产率(2012年为11.6%)高于大多数欧洲国家、加拿大和澳大利亚(5%-9%)提供了一种机制，即使是在社会经济地位中等到更高的白人女性中也是如此。这个项目对一名毕业生进行了严格的、有经验的科学实地考察方法的培训，调查了早产率较高是否可以用怀孕期间复杂的信息和相互竞争的社会期望来解释。在俄亥俄州立大学芭芭拉·皮佩拉塔博士的指导下，吉纳维芙·里奇-尤因提议调查社会期望、女性的决策经历以及她们的情感和生理压力水平之间的联系。该项目的目标是1)确定孕妇在怀孕和分娩期间从哪里获得有关行为的信息，并确定这些信息是否相互冲突；2)探索孕妇如何决定将哪些做法融入她们的日常生活和生育计划；3)调查妇女决定遵循哪些建议的经历与她们的情绪压力水平(特别是与怀孕有关的焦虑或与怀孕有关的焦虑)之间的联系；以及4)确定妇女做出关于专家建议的决定的经历、因怀孕而增加的焦虑率与更高的生物压力水平(即更陡峭的皮质醇轨迹)之间是否存在关联。总部设在俄亥俄州哥伦布的研究人员将收集定性和定量数据，通过焦点小组、调查、半结构访谈、产妇日记和皮质醇分析的头发样本来解决上述目标。

During pregnancy, American women receive competing messages regarding appropriate behaviors that reflect society's expectations of mothers. Research reveals conflicting messages about best practices during pregnancy and childbirth frequently cause pregnant women anxiety as they try to decide which expert advice to follow. However, no studies have explored how women's experiences with making these decisions affect self-perceived stress or the biological stress response. In addition, few studies have linked society's expectations to emotional and biological stress levels. Connecting cultural beliefs to biological responses provides a mechanism for explaining the higher preterm birth rates in the U.S. (11.6% in 2012) compared to most European countries, Canada, and Australia (5-9%) even among "white" women of middle to higher socioeconomic status. This project, which trains a graduate in methods of rigorous, empirically-grounded scientific fieldwork, examines whether higher preterm birth rates can be explained by mixed messages and competing societal expectations during pregnancy. Genevieve Ritchie-Ewing under the supervision of Dr. Barbara Piperata of the Ohio State University proposes to investigate the connections between societal expectations, women's experiences with decision-making and their emotional and biological stress levels. The objectives of the project are to 1) determine where pregnant women get messages about behaviors during pregnancy and childbirth and ascertain if these messages conflict, 2) explore how pregnant women make decisions about which practices to integrate into their daily lives and birth plans, 3) investigate links between women's experiences making decisions about which advice to follow and their emotional stress levels (particularly pregnancy-specific anxiety or anxiety associated with pregnancy-related concerns), and 4) establish if there are associations between women's experiences making decisions about expert advice, increased pregnancy-specific anxiety rates, and higher biological stress levels (i.e., steeper cortisol trajectories). Based in Columbus, OH, the researcher will collect qualitative and quantitative data to address the above objectives with focus groups, surveys, semi-structured interviews, maternal journaling, and hair samples for cortisol analysis.