Resilience During Pregnancy: How Early Life Experiences are Associated with Pregnancy-Specific Stress
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Resilience During Pregnancy: How Early Life Experiences are Associated with Pregnancy-Specific Stress Mira Armans 1 & Samantha Addante 1 & Lucia Ciciolla 1 & Machele Anderson 2 & Karina M. Shreffler 2 Accepted: 18 September 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract High levels of maternal pregnancy–specific stress are associated with an increased risk for adverse birth outcomes as well as anxiety and depression symptoms during and following pregnancy. There is evidence that early childhood experiences play an important role in maternal psychological health and well-being and may be important for shaping maternal vulnerability to pregnancy-specific stress. The current study examined the link between both maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and protective and compensatory experiences (PACEs) and pregnancy-specific stress and considered the mediating and moderating roles of resilience on these associations. Data came from a high-risk clinic cohort of 138 racially diverse pregnant women (ages 16–38). We found that resilience mediated the associations between PACEs and pregnancy-specific stress and moderated the association between ACEs and pregnancy-specific stress. In particular, high levels of resilience were protective against pregnancy-specific stress at low and moderate levels of ACEs. The findings highlight the importance of early childhood experiences on women’s well-being during pregnancy and demonstrate how both ACEs and PACEs contribute to and are protected by resilience. Keywords Pregnancy stress . ACEs . PACEs . Adversity . Resilience . Childhood experiences
Pregnancy is a major life event associated with physiological and psychological changes, including heightened levels of stress for many women (Glynn et al., 2004). High levels of stress during pregnancy have been associated with adverse perinatal outcomes for mothers and infants (Copper et al., 1996; Davis et al., 2005; Dole et al., 2003; Hedegaard et al., 1996; Hoffman & Hatch, 1996). Therefore, it is imperative to identify potential risks as well as protective factors that may ameliorate stress levels and contribute to pregnant women’s health and well-being (Dunkel Schetter & Tanner, 2012). Recent research has demonstrated a positive link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and increased rates of stress and stress-related difficulties (Manyema et al., 2018), but less is known about the impact of ACEs on pregnancy-
* Karina M. Shreffler [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
2
Department of Human Development and Family Science, Oklahoma State University, 700 N. Greenwood Ave., Tulsa, OK 74106, USA
specific stress. Moreover, to our knowledge, studies have not yet examined whether protective and compensatory experiences (PACEs) during childhood contribute to lower stress in adulthood. Finally, we explore the role of individual resilience to explain how childhood experiences are associated with women’s pregnancy-specific stress. Understan
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