Economic Stress and Cortisol Among Postpartum Low-Income Mexican American Women: Buffering Influence of Family Support

Abstract

Low-income Mexican American women experience significant health disparities during the postpartum period. Contextual stressors, such as economic stress, are theorized to affect health via dysregulated cortisol output. However, cultural protective factors including strong family support may buffer the impact of stress. In a sample of 322 low-income Mexican American women (mother age 18–42; 84% Spanish-speaking; modal family income $10,000–$15,000), we examined the interactive influence of economic stress and family support at 6 weeks postpartum on maternal cortisol output (AUCg) during a mildly challenging mother-infant interaction task at 12 weeks postpartum, controlling for 6 week maternal cortisol and depressive symptoms. The interaction significantly predicted cortisol output such that higher economic stress predicted higher cortisol only among women reporting low family support. These results suggest that family support is an important protective resource for postpartum Mexican American women experiencing elevated economic stress.

The Factors Associated with Accelerating and Reducing Postpartum Depression

“…Mothers who had high economic stress, and low family support had higher cortisol levels. Mothers who had high economic stress and high family support had low cortisol levels (Jewell, et al, 2015). These results suggest that family support can act as a buffer to relieve some of the stress associated with postpartum, being a mother, and lacking sufficient income.…”

“…Researchers of this article, Jewell, Luecken, Gress-Smith, Crnic, K, & Gonzales, (2015), claim that Mexican American women score higher for systems of depression stemming from the fact that 25% of Mexican American women live below the poverty line (Jewell, et al, 2015). Because of this, many Mexican American women have limited access to health and prenatal care.…”

“…Mexican families emphasize the value of close relationships within the family which acts as a buffer. The researchers hypothesized that women who reported having high levels of economic stress but also had high levels of family support would have lower levels of cortisol three months postpartum (Jewell, et al, 2015).…”

“…The data was collected a total of three times: prenatal, six weeks, and 12 weeks postpartum. Participants of this study were recruited from low income prenatal clinics (Jewell, et al, 2015). Participants were read surveys in English or Spanish.…”

“…Cortisol samples were taken before the task and a few minutes after the final task. Cortisol levels can vary depending on the time of day, last meal, and many other factors so the researchers made sure to control these things (Jewell, et al, 2015). Because the researchers controlled for the time of day at which the cortisol levels were sampled, they had high internal validity.…”