Preconception stress, birth weight, and birth weight disparities among us women

K.L. Strutz, V.K. Hogan, A.M. Siega-Riz, C.M. Suchindran, C.T. Halpern and J.M. Hussey

American Journal of Public Health, 2014, vol. 104, issue 8, e125-e132

Abstract: Objectives. We examined the impact of preconception acute and chronic stressors on offspring birth weight and racial/ethnic birth weight disparities. Methods. We included birth weights for singleton live first (n = 3512) and second (n = 1901) births to White, Mexican-origin Latina, other-origin Latina, and Black women reported at wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (2007-2008; ages 24-32 years). We generated factor scores for preconception acute and chronic stressors from wave I (1994-1995; ages 11-19 years) or wave III (2001-2002; ages 18-26 years) for the same cohort of women. Results. Linear regression models indicated that chronic stressors, but not acute stressors, were inversely associated with birth weight for both first and second births (b = -192; 95% confidence interval = -270, -113; and b = -180; 95% confidence interval = -315, -45, respectively), and partially explained the disparities in birth weight between the minority racial/ethnic groups and Whites. Conclusions. Preconception chronic stressors contribute to restricted birth weight and to racial/ethnic birth weight disparities.

Keywords: adolescent; adult; article; birth weight; Black person; Caucasian; child; female; health disparity; Hispanic; human; longitudinal study; mental stress; Mexican American; newborn; pregnancy; statistical model; statistics; United States; young adult, Adolescent; Adult; African Continental Ancestry Group; Birth Weight; Child; European Continental Ancestry Group; Female; Health Status Disparities; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Linear Models; Longitudinal Studies; Mexican Americans; Pregnancy; Stress, Psychological; United States; Young Adult (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2014.301904

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2014.301904_5

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.301904

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().