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Stress and Poor Physical and Mental Health among Postpartum Mexican American Women: A Test of Heart Rate Variability in Promoting Resilience

abstract: Low-income Mexican American women face significant risk for poor health during the postpartum period. Chronic stressors are theorized to negatively impact mental and physical health outcomes. However, physiological factors associated with increased self-regulatory capacity, such as resting heart rate variability, may buffer the impact of stress. In a sample of 322 low-income Mexican American women (mother age 18-42; 84% Spanish-speaking; modal family income $10,000-$15,000), the interactive influence of resting heart rate variability and three chronic prenatal stressors (daily hassles, negative life events, economic stress) on maternal cortisol output, depressive symptoms, and self-rated health at 12 weeks postpartum was assessed. The hypothesized interactive effects between resting heart rate variability and the chronic prenatal stressors on the health outcomes were not supported by the data. However, results showed that a higher number of prenatal daily hassles was associated with increased postpartum depressive symptoms, and a higher number of prenatal negative life events was associated with lower postpartum cortisol output. These results suggest that elevated chronic stress during the prenatal period may increase risk for poor health during the postpartum period. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2015

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:asu.edu/item:29787
Date January 2015
ContributorsJewell, Shannon Linda (Author), Luecken, Linda J (Advisor), Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member), Perez, Marisol (Committee member), Arizona State University (Publisher)
Source SetsArizona State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeMasters Thesis
Format52 pages
Rightshttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, All Rights Reserved

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