Doctoral Dissertation Research: Biocultural dynamics of the postpartum interval

在生物文化研究中，人类学家对发生在整个人类生命过程中的生物和文化之间的复杂相互作用感兴趣。生命过程的一个重要部分是孩子出生后的那段时间，在这段时间里，母亲经历了生理变化，可能容易受到各种压力的影响，并可能接受其他人的帮助。这项博士论文研究考察了母亲产后抑郁、文化相关的社会支持和母亲的催产素水平之间的关系，以便从生物文化的角度更好地理解产后时期。该项目将促进关于母体动态和我们物种的生物文化本质的基本知识。这项研究还可能通过提供文化上适当的干预措施来改善产后产妇健康，从而对公共卫生产生更广泛的影响。此外，该项目将支持研究生培训、国际研究合作和社区科学推广。合作繁殖模式已经被用来描述人类照顾婴儿的模式。母亲尤其在产后立即得到帮助，因为照顾早产儿的压力与怀孕后身体恢复的压力同时发生。该项目侧重于产后立即的产妇特征，从而超越了以前主要侧重于生殖健康和婴儿结局的工作。根据一组对产后支持有着相同文化期望的女性，这项研究将检验产后获得的社会支持和期望的社会支持之间的更大差异是否与母亲的抑郁症状有关，以及催产素和社会支持水平是否相关。该项目将通过对妇女的采访来描述当地对社会支持的文化期望。150名孕妇将在妊娠晚期和产后约40天接受访谈，以确定所接受的支持(报告的和直接观察的)与社会支持、抑郁症状和尿液催产素水平的文化预期之间的一致性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In biocultural research, anthropologists are interested in the complex interactions between biology and culture that occur throughout the human lifecourse. One important part of the lifecourse is the time immediately following the birth of a child, when mothers experience physiological changes, may be vulnerable to various stressors, and potentially receive help from other individuals. This doctoral dissertation research examines the relationships between maternal postpartum depression, culturally relevant social support, and maternal levels of the hormone oxytocin, to better understand the postpartum period from a biocultural perspective. The project will advance fundamental knowledge about maternal dynamics and the biocultural nature of our species. The research may also have broader public health impact by informing culturally appropriate interventions for improving postpartum maternal health. In addition, the project will support graduate training, international research collaborations, and community science outreach. A cooperative breeding model has been used to describe patterns of infant care in humans. Mothers especially benefit from help during the immediate postpartum when the stress of caring for an altricial infant co-occurs with physical recovery from pregnancy. This project focuses on maternal characteristics in the immediate postpartum, thereby extending beyond previous work that focused largely on reproductive fitness and infant outcomes. Following a cohort of women who share cultural expectations regarding postpartum support, this study will examine whether greater discordance between received and expected social support in the postpartum is related to maternal depressive symptoms, and whether oxytocin and social support levels are related. The project will characterize local cultural expectations of social support via interviews with women. A group of 150 pregnant women will be interviewed during their third trimester, and again approximately 40 days postpartum to determine congruence between received support (reported and directly observed) and cultural expectations of social support, depressive symptoms, and urine oxytocin levels.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.