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

博士论文研究：社会对母性的期望和怀孕期间的母亲压力

• 批准号: 1528292
• 负责人: Barbara Piperata
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: Ohio State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1528292&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Societal; expectations

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.

在怀孕期间，美国妇女收到关于反映社会对母亲期望的适当行为的相互竞争的信息。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在试图决定遵循哪些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知的压力或生物压力反应。此外，很少有研究将社会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提供了一种机制，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%），甚至在中等至较高社会经济地位的“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的培训，研究早产率较高是否可以通过怀孕期间的混合信息和相互竞争的社会期望来解释。 Genevieve Ritchie-Ewing 在俄亥俄州立大学 Barbara Piperata 博士的指导下提议调查社会期望、女性决策经历以及她们的情绪和生物压力水平之间的联系。该项目的目标是 1) 确定孕妇从哪里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纳入日常生活和生育计划，3) 调查女性决定遵循哪些建议的经历与她们的情绪压力水平（特别是怀孕特有的焦虑或与怀孕相关问题相关的焦虑）之间的联系，4) 确定两者之间是否存在关联 女性根据专家建议做出决定的经历、怀孕特有的焦虑率增加以及更高的生物压力水平（即更陡峭的皮质醇轨迹）。研究人员将在俄亥俄州哥伦布市进行工作，通过焦点小组、调查、半结构化访谈、母亲日记和用于皮质醇分析的头发样本来收集定性和定量数据，以实现上述目标。