Assessing Stress in Pregnancy and Postpartum: Comparing Measures
- PDF / 572,106 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 20 Downloads / 201 Views
METHODOLOGICAL NOTES
Assessing Stress in Pregnancy and Postpartum: Comparing Measures Irena Štěpáníková1,2,5 · Elizabeth Baker2 · Gabriela Oates3 · Julie Bienertova‑Vasku1,4 · Jana Klánová1
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Introduction Measuring early-life psychosocial stress is complicated by methodological challenges. This paper compares three survey instruments for the assessment of life in pregnancy/postpartum and investigates the effects of the timing of early-life stress for emotional/behavioral difficulties (EBD) of offspring during mid/late childhood and adolescence. Methods Observational data were obtained from the European Longitudinal Cohort Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC-CZ), which included 4811 pregnancies in two Czech metropolitan areas. We used data collected between 1991 and 2010 at 20 weeks of pregnancy (T1), after delivery (T2), at 6 months postpartum (T3), and at child’s age of 7 years (T4), 11 years (T5), 15 years (T6), and 18 years (T7). Life stress was assessed with (1) the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), (2) a stressful life events (SLE) count based on 42-item inventory, and (3) the SLE measure weighted by perceived stressfulness (PS). Each stress measure was administered at T1, T2, and T3. Child’s EBD were assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at T4, T5, T6, and T7. Results Each stress measure independently predicted long-term EBD. The best data fit was obtained in a model combining EPDS and SLE. Effect sizes for SLEs decreased between the first half of pregnancy and postpartum, while the effect of EPDS increased. Discussion SLE-based methods capture an aspect of perinatal stress not adequately assessed by EPDS. Combination of psychological distress measures and SLE-based measures is optimal in predicting EBD of the child. Stress measures based on SLE are suitable for early pregnancy, while self-reports of depressive symptoms may perform better in postpartum. Keywords Pregnancy · Postpartum · Maternal stress · Life events · Child psychological adjustment
Significance
* Irena Štěpáníková [email protected] 1
Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
2
Sociology Department, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1401 University Blvd. HHB, Birmingham, AL, USA
3
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
4
Department of Pathological Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
5
Denisa Ludvikova Vizentova, Masarykova univerzita Kotlářská 2, Brno, 61137, Czech Republic
What is known on this subject? Perinatal stress contributes to psychological difficulties in later childhood. Instruments specifically designed to measure psychosocial stress during pregnancy/postpartum are scarce, and most studies rely on instruments designed to assess psychological distress, e.g., depressive symptoms. What does this study add? This prospective populationbased study investigat
Data Loading...
