ABSTRACT

Objective

Although many studies have identified risk factors for adolescent pregnancy, much less is known about factors that support pregnant adolescents’ psychological wellbeing and offspring outcomes. This study drew on strength-based frameworks to investigate family and neighborhood factors linked to social connectedness that predict psychological wellbeing during adolescent pregnancy and offspring outcomes.

Method

Participants included 135 adolescent mothers (ages 14–21; 90% Black American) assessed annually since childhood as part of a longitudinal study. During preadolescence (ages 11–13), data on contextual stressors and neighborhood support were gathered from participants’ caregivers; participants also rated their perceived trust/attachment with caregivers before and during pregnancy. To assess changes in psychological wellbeing, adolescents reported positive and depressed mood before and during pregnancy. A path analysis model tested the prospective associations between family and neighborhood factors, psychological wellbeing during pregnancy, and offspring outcomes (birth outcomes; observed infant positive/negative emotions at age 3-months).

Results

Positive mood decreased from pre-pregnancy to pregnancy, whereas depressed mood remained stable. Adjusting for pre-pregnancy mood, perceived caregiver trust/attachment during pregnancy was associated with prenatal positive mood. Prenatal positive mood, in turn, reduced risk of preterm birth and indirectly predicted positive infant emotions via birth outcomes. Neighborhood support in preadolescence predicted lower prenatal depressed mood, but depressed mood did not predict infant outcomes beyond positive mood. Contextual life stress was not associated with prenatal mood after adjusting for family and neighborhood support.

Conclusions

Findings highlight changes in positive-valence emotions during adolescent pregnancy that may have unique associations with birth outcomes and offspring emotions.

中文翻译：

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青春期母亲怀孕期间的心理健康和婴儿情绪健康

摘要

客观的

尽管许多研究已经确定了青少年怀孕的危险因素，但对支持青少年怀孕心理健康和后代结局的因素知之甚少。这项研究利用基于力量的框架来调查与社会联系相关的家庭和邻里因素，这些因素可预测青少年怀孕期间的心理健康和后代的结局。

方法

参与者包括 135 名青少年母亲（14-21 岁；90% 美国黑人），作为纵向研究的一部分，从童年起每年接受评估。在青春期前（11-13 岁），从参与者的照顾者那里收集了有关背景压力源和邻里支持的数据；参与者还对怀孕前和怀孕期间对照顾者的信任/依恋进行了评分。为了评估心理健康的变化，青少年报告了怀孕前和怀孕期间的积极和抑郁情绪。路径分析模型测试了家庭和邻里因素、怀孕期间的心理健康和后代结果（出生结果；观察到的婴儿 3 个月大的积极/消极情绪）之间的前瞻性关联。

结果

从孕前到孕期，积极情绪有所下降，而抑郁情绪则保持稳定。调整孕前情绪后，怀孕期间感知到的照顾者信任/依恋与产前积极情绪相关。产前积极情绪反过来又降低了早产风险，并通过出生结果间接预测婴儿的积极情绪。青春期前的邻里支持可以预测产前抑郁情绪的降低，但抑郁情绪并不能预测除积极情绪之外的婴儿结局。在调整家庭和邻里支持后，背景生活压力与产前情绪无关。

结论

研究结果强调了青少年怀孕期间正价情绪的变化，这可能与出生结果和后代情绪具有独特的关联。