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Maternal stress in the United States

Maternal well-being is an essential component to the development as well as the upbringing of a healthy child (Karam et al. 2016). The physical and emotional well-being of a pregnant woman during impact on the future health of the child. Maternal stress is one of the factors that alter the emotional well-being of a mother which is a result of the encounters with stressful events or the environmental hardships that include the death of a loved one, financial instability as well as divorce. Pregnancy can as well place additional strain on the mother, increasing her chances of adverse birth outcomes that include preterm birth and low birthweight in an infant. Pregnant women are, therefore, advised to restrain against stressful events and are encouraged to utilize their support networks, which will help them manage stress and depression.

Three-fourths of pregnant mothers reported to have experienced at least one stressful event in the period between 2009 and 2010 during their pregnancy in a 30-state area. Some of the most common stressful events included moving to a new address that accounted for around 33.7%, severe illness and hospitalization of a close relative accounting for 22.9%, while stress from arguing with the husband more than usually attributed to 24.7%. The inability to pay most of the bills as well resulted in stress accounting to around 22.7% with these figures translating in to the present time as pregnant women still face the same problems.

Stress varies across the races, and this is backed by the data published by Child Health in the USA by 2013. The proportion of mothers who reported that they had experienced at least one stressful event varied across the races, with the non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska native women taking around 80.1 percent while the non-Hispanic Asian women attributed to 56.4 percent (Mukherjee, 2016). The non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska native women were prone to six or more stressful events accounting to around 13.6 percent, while the non-Hispanic Asian mothers had the least experience with stressful events with 1.0 percent.

Impact of maternal stress on developing infants

According to studies, maternal stress, anxiety or depression during pregnancy may increase the risk of the child having a range of problems that include conduct disorder, emotional problems, impaired cognitive development as well as ADHD. Besides, maternal stress during pregnancy has been attributed to the alteration of both brain structure and function. Maternal stress is also associated with the increase in the risk of the child’s development of metabolic, cardiovascular, and neuropsychiatric conditions, thus affecting fetal programming. Fetal programming originates from the over-production of stress hormones, cortisol. The stress-induced cortisol release in the mother is a major mediator of the prenatal psychological stress in the child. The type, timing, as well as the intensity of the stressors, play a crucial role in the outcomes of fetal programming.

Influence of research findings on both social thinking and social policies

Maternal stress has been attributed to various negative effects on the infant, such as increasing the risk of the child’s development of metabolic, cardiovascular, and neuropsychiatric conditions (Rakers et al. 2017). Stress can, therefore, be detrimental in the future development of the child and as a result of these findings, social thinking has significantly changed in that the society has begun to see that the minor issues that are attributed to the causation of stress in pregnant mothers such as divorce and loss of a loved ones can have effects on the fetus. As a result, the society has been more cautious protecting pregnant mothers from cases that may expose them to stress. Social policies as well have been formed to ensure that pregnant mothers have been provided with the necessary services such as counselling to help them get out stress and depression.

Research methods used

Prospective studies have been used to research maternal stress and the impact it causes on the fetus. The research is based on the investigation of the impact of the mother’s emotional state on the development of the child. Various extensive cohort studies have as well been used to research the findings that have found the associations of possible confounding factors such as maternal education, postnatal depression, and anxiety, and gestational age.

Possible intervention of maternal stress

Maternal stress occurs as a result of the pregnant mother being exposed to stressors such as ADHD, death of a loved one, divorce as well as poor financial abilities. Out of these problems, the possible intervention measures would include staying in harmony with their partners by reducing household and personal arguments that may trigger a divorce. Staying away from the stressor is the main solution as it will be difficult for one to be stressed when they have already distanced themselves away from the stressor.

Personal happiness is the key to reduced stress, and therefore if a pregnant mother wishes to live a stress-free life, then they should devise the simple things that can keep them happy. One should not have higher expectations such as going for a 5-star hotel for them to be happy but rather opt for nature walks and spending quality time with family and friends as this will reduce the financial burden thus relieving the mother from financial stress. Proper planning is also a key player to avoid being stressed; a pregnant mother should make their schedule in a good manner such that it will help them avoid the last minute rush, thus staying away from stress. Besides, pregnant mothers should constable check on psychological counselors to ensure that their emotional well-being is at maximum.

References

Karam, F., Sheehy, O., Huneau, M. C., Chambers, C., Fraser, W. D., Johnson, D., … & St-André, M. (2016). Impact of maternal prenatal and parental postnatal stress on 1-year-old child development: results from the OTIS antidepressants in pregnancy study. Archives of women’s mental health, 19(5), 835-843.

Mukherjee, S. (2016). Antenatal Stressful Life Events and Postpartum Depression in the United States: the Role of Women’s Socioeconomic Status at the State Level.

Rakers, F., Rupprecht, S., Dreiling, M., Bergmeier, C., Witte, O. W., & Schwab, M. (2017). Transfer of maternal psychosocial stress to the fetus. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.