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

在怀孕期间，美国妇女会收到关于适当行为的相互竞争的信息，这些信息反映了社会对母亲的期望。研究表明，关于怀孕和分娩期间最佳做法的相互矛盾的信息经常导致孕妇焦虑，因为她们试图决定遵循哪些专家建议。然而，没有研究探讨女性的经验，使这些决定如何影响自我感知的压力或生物压力反应。此外，很少有研究将社会的期望与情绪和生物压力水平联系起来。将文化信仰与生物反应联系起来，可以解释美国的早产率（2012年为11.6%）高于大多数欧洲国家、加拿大和澳大利亚（5-9%），即使是在中高社会经济地位的“白色”妇女中。该项目培训了一名毕业生严格的，以科学为基础的实地调查方法，研究了较高的早产率是否可以通过怀孕期间的混合信息和竞争性社会期望来解释。在俄亥俄州州立大学的芭芭拉·萨塔博士的指导下，吉纳维芙·里奇·尤因建议调查社会期望、女性决策经历与她们的情感和生物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何处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纳入其日常生活和生育计划，3）调查女性在决定遵循哪些建议时的经历与她们的情绪压力水平之间的联系（特别是妊娠特异性焦虑或与妊娠相关的担忧相关的焦虑），以及4）确定女性对专家建议做出决定的经历、增加的妊娠特异性焦虑率和更高的生物应激水平（即，更陡峭的皮质醇轨迹）。总部设在俄亥俄州的哥伦布，研究人员将收集定性和定量数据，以解决上述目标与焦点小组，调查，半结构化访谈，产妇日记，和头发样本皮质醇分析。

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.