Prenatal stress: course and interrelation of emotional and physiological stress measures
Background: Prenatal stress is known to be a potential risk factor for cognitive, behavioural and motor development that even last until adolescence. A consensus of how ‘prenatal stress’ can be measured, in which trimester of pregnancy women should be studied and whether subjective feelings of being...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2011
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| In: |
Psychopathology
Year: 2011, Volume: 44, Pages: 60-67 |
| ISSN: | 1423-033X |
| DOI: | 10.1159/000319309 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1159/000319309 Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/319309 
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| Author Notes: | Steffi E. Rothenberger, Eva Moehler, Corinna Reck, Franz Resch |
| Summary: | Background: Prenatal stress is known to be a potential risk factor for cognitive, behavioural and motor development that even last until adolescence. A consensus of how ‘prenatal stress’ can be measured, in which trimester of pregnancy women should be studied and whether subjective feelings of being stressed are associated with a hormonal response is still lacking. To close this gap, a prospective longitudinal study was conducted in pregnant women. Sampling and Methods: 108 subjects were asked to fill out questionnaires concerning pregnancy-related anxiety, perceived stress, marital satisfaction, critical life events and to collect salivary cortisol in each trimester of pregnancy. Results: Fear of giving birth increases until the end of pregnancy, and marital satisfaction is highest at the end of pregnancy. Perceived stress is related to a hormonal response in cortisol only in the first (r = 0.18, p < 0.10) and second (r = 0.18, p < 0.10) trimesters of pregnancy. Critical life events are linked to raised cortisol levels in early pregnancy only (r = 0.28, p < 0.01). Conclusion: Prenatal stress can be operationalized by using different subjective as well as physiological stress measures. Only in the first half of pregnancy self-report and physiological stress measures seem to be associated. |
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| Item Description: | Published online: November 11, 2010 Gesehen am 20.09.2022 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1423-033X |
| DOI: | 10.1159/000319309 |