Medical Sciences Commons^™

Maternal Psychological Distress And Cortsiol, Jenna Schroeder

Grace Peterson Nursing Research Colloquium

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have reported associations between prenatal maternal distress and negative health outcomes for the unborn. There are gaps within this body of knowledge and inconsistencies in the research which make the relevant relationships unclear. If changes in maternal cortisol cause alterations in fetal development, it is important to gain an adequate understanding of how, and if, maternal psychological distress predicts maternal cortisol levels. This study is an integrative literature review that looks at the research investigating a connection between maternal psychological distress and maternal cortisol levels during pregnancy. Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) Transactional Model of Stress and …