Parental stress during pregnancy and maternity.
Carine Sanches Zani Ribeiro, Ellen Cristina Gondim, Luiz Guilherme Dacar Silva Scorzafave and 3 others
PMID 37011287WHAT IT FOUND
Pregnant women with higher stress scores also had higher parental stress scores at the baby’s first month.
A higher number of planned pregnancies was linked to lower parental stress. Most other factors showed no link.
Key findings
01Higher stress during pregnancy was associated with higher total parental stress at the baby’s first month; each one-point increase in pregnancy stress score was estimated to raise the total score by 0.32.
02A higher number of planned pregnancies was associated with lower parental stress level; each one-point increase was estimated to lower the level by 0.40.
03When low and high parental stress groups were compared at the baby’s first month, none of the individual, family or social characteristics tested showed a significant association.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The final analysis used 121 women, not the 220 who agreed, because 99 were lost or excluded. The study measured only women’s reports, not fathers’ or other caregivers’ reports. It did not test any intervention, so it cannot show that changing any factor would change parental stress. It was done in one Brazilian health district, so it may not apply to other settings.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these findings as proof that reducing pregnancy stress will lower parental stress. The study observed women over time and did not test an intervention, so it cannot show that any factor caused the change.