Happiness in Pregnant African American Women: What Are the Biobehavioral Correlates?
Nancy Jallo, Lisa Brown, R K Elswick and 2 others
PMID 33528183WHAT IT FOUND
Pregnant African American women with higher happiness reported lower stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.
IL-8 showed weak links to these emotions; other cytokines did not. The study cannot show happiness caused better outcomes.
Key findings
01Higher happiness was strongly negatively correlated with perceived stress (r = -0.71), state anxiety (r = -0.64), trait anxiety (r = -0.82), and depressive symptoms (r = -0.76).
02The reported correlations among negative emotions were strong and positive: perceived stress and state anxiety (r = 0.64), perceived stress and depressive symptoms (r = 0.69), perceived stress and trait anxiety (r = 0.77), depressive symptoms and state anxiety (r = 0.71), and depressive symptoms and trait anxiety (r = 0.79).
03IL-8 was weakly positively correlated with perceived stress (r = 0.27) and depressive symptoms (r = 0.31), and weakly negatively correlated with happiness (r = -0.29); no other correlations were significant.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional and correlational, so it cannot show that happiness reduces stress, anxiety, depression, or inflammation. All data came from one time point at 14 to 17 weeks gestation, so associations may change later in pregnancy. The analysis was exploratory and pilot in nature, and the authors did not adjust for multiple comparisons. Cytokine levels may be affected by diet, exercise, time of day, sample handling, and other factors that were not controlled. Only pro-inflammatory cytokines were measured, so the immune picture is incomplete. The sample was limited to African American women with uncomplicated pregnancies recruited from two clinics in Southeastern Virginia, and 60% were unemployed while 68% reported income below $15 000. Participants had to report at least one source of social support, so results may not apply to women without support. No data were collected on specific sources of stress, such as the number and ages of children.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing happiness will lower stress, anxiety, depression, or inflammation in pregnant African American women. This study measured associations at one time point and did not test an intervention or show cause.