Maternal and child health journal
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Matern Child Health J · Apr 2020
Stressful Life Events Among New Mothers in Georgia: Variation by Race, Ethnicity and Nativity.
Prior research has identified psychosocial stress as a risk factor for adverse maternal and infant outcomes for non-Hispanic Black and White women. However, whether psychosocial stress differs in its profile and association with preterm birth across diverse racial-ethnic-nativity groups in the Southeast remains unexamined. Both foreign-born and Hispanic women represent important proportions of new mothers in many Southeastern states. The objective of this paper is to describe the prevalence of categories of prenatal life events among Georgia mothers, the variation across race, ethnicity and nativity, and the association of prenatal stress with prevalence of preterm birth. ⋯ Prenatal and preconception stress were common among women who gave birth between 2012 and 2015 in Georgia and may have implications for preterm and postpartum maternal mental health.