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

在怀孕期间，美国女性收到的关于适当行为的信息相互矛盾，反映了社会对母亲的期望。研究表明，在怀孕和分娩期间，关于最佳做法的相互矛盾的信息经常导致孕妇在决定遵循哪个专家建议时感到焦虑。然而，没有研究探索女性在做这些决定时的经历如何影响自我感知的压力或生物应激反应。此外，很少有研究将社会期望与情感和生理压力水平联系起来。将文化信仰与生理反应联系起来，可以解释为什么美国的早产率（2012年为11.6%）高于大多数欧洲国家、加拿大和澳大利亚（5-9%），甚至在社会经济地位中高的“白人”女性中也是如此。该项目对毕业生进行严格的、以经验为基础的科学实地考察方法培训，研究是否可以用怀孕期间混杂的信息和相互矛盾的社会期望来解释较高的早产率。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、女性决策经历以及她们的情绪和生理压力水平之间的联系。该项目的目标是：1)确定孕妇从何处获得有关怀孕和分娩期间行为的信息，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日常生活和生育计划；3)调查女性决定遵循哪种建议的经历与她们的情绪压力水平之间的联系（特别是怀孕特异性焦虑或与怀孕相关的焦虑），以及4)确定女性决定接受专家建议的经历、怀孕特异性焦虑率的增加和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市，研究人员将通过焦点小组、调查、半结构化访谈、母亲日记和头发样本来收集定性和定量数据，以解决上述目标。

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.