Resilience During Pregnancy: How Early Life Experiences are Associated with Pregnancy-Specific Stress

Abstract

High levels of maternal pregnancy-specific stress are associated with an increased risk for adverse birth outcomes as well as anxiety and depression symptoms during and following pregnancy. There is evidence that early childhood experiences play an important role in maternal psychological health and well-being and may be important for shaping maternal vulnerability to pregnancy-specific stress. The current study examined the link between both maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and protective and compensatory experiences (PACEs) and pregnancy-specific stress and considered the mediating and moderating roles of resilience on these associations. Data came from a high-risk clinic cohort of 138 racially diverse pregnant women (ages 16-38). We found that resilience mediated the associations between PACEs and pregnancy-specific stress and moderated the association between ACEs and pregnancy-specific stress. In particular, high levels of resilience were protective against pregnancy-specific stress at low and moderate levels of ACEs. The findings highlight the importance of early childhood experiences on women's well-being during pregnancy and demonstrate how both ACEs and PACEs contribute to and are protected by resilience.

Resilience, stress and anxiety in pregnancy before and throughout the pandemic: a structural equation modelling approach

“…Thus, our findings are in line with those provided by structural equation models in other studies. For example, they support those found by Armans et al ( 2020 ), who showed that resilience negatively influenced pregnancy-specific stress, or those found by Peñacoba-Puente et al ( 2016 ), which demonstrated how pregnancy worries had an impact on anxiety symptoms before the pandemic. The results provided by this model showed that resilience also acts as a buffering factor in relation to stress, pregnancy worries and anxious symptoms in women during their pregnancy before the COVID-19, and not only in times of crisis or great adversity.…”

“…Thus, several investigations have discovered a negative association between resilience and anxiety during pregnancy (Lubián López et al, 2021 ), and between resilience towards stress and anxiety in other populations at the time of the pandemic (Braun-Lewensohn et al, 2021 ; Satici et al, 2020 : Wang et al, 2021 ). Additionally, previous researches carried out before the pandemic have proven the protective role of resilience regarding these variables in the perinatal stage (Armans et al, 2020 ; García-León et al, 2019 ).…”

Adverse and Protective Childhood Experiences and Parenting Attitudes: the Role of Cumulative Protection in Understanding Resilience

“…It is important to note that our examination of PACEs was based on a cumulative factor, adding up the PACEs reported on, rather than examining the factors individually. Several recent studies indicate that cumulative positive experiences in childhood should be considered when examining resilience (Armans et al, 2020 ; Bethell et al, 2019 ; Narayan et al, 2020 ; Yamaoka & Bard, 2019 ). For example, Bethell and colleagues found a dose-response between positive childhood experiences and adult mental and relational health, “analogous to the cumulative effects of multiple ACEs” in a large, retrospective study of adults (Bethell et al, 2019 , p. 8).…”

Protective and compensatory childhood experiences and their impact on adult mental health

“…For example, PACEs have been found to act as a buffer between negative parenting attitudes and adverse childhood experiences 2,8 . Similarly, PACEs have been associated with greater resilience and less stress during pregnancy (e.g., future worries about parenting 9 ). Taken together, these findings suggest that PACEs buffer the deleterious effects of ACEs on adult functioning and mental health.…”