Obstetrics and Gynecology Commons^™

Stress And Blood Pressure During Pregnancy: Racial Differences And Associations With Birthweight, Clayton J. Hilmert, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

OBJECTIVE: To extend findings that African American women report greater stress during pregnancy, have higher blood pressure (BP), and are twice as likely to have low birthweight infants relative to white women. This study examines a) racial differences in associations between stress and BP during pregnancy, and b) the combined effects of stress and BP on infant birthweight in a sample of 170 African American and white women.

METHODS: A prospective, longitudinal study of pregnant women was conducted in which measures of BP, stress, and other relevant variables were collected. Multiple measures of systolic and diastolic BP were taken at …

Racial Differences In Birth Outcomes: The Role Of General, Pregnancy, And Racism Stress, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Laura M. Glynn, Calvin J. Hobel, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: This study examined the role of psychosocial stress in racial differences in birth outcomes.

Design: Maternal health, sociodemographic factors, and 3 forms of stress (general stress, pregnancy stress, and perceived racism) were assessed prospectively in a sample of 51 African American and 73 non-Hispanic White pregnant women.

Main Outcome Measures: The outcomes of interest were birth weight and gestational age at delivery. Only predictive models of birth weight were tested as the groups did not differ significantly in gestational age.

Results: Perceived racism and indicators of general stress were correlated with birth weight and tested in regression analyses. In …