Premium
Effects of stress and social support on postpartum health of Chinese mothers in the United States
Author(s) -
Cheng ChingYu,
Pickler Rita H.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.20356
Subject(s) - social support , postpartum depression , psychology , postpartum period , depressive symptoms , clinical psychology , stress (linguistics) , medicine , developmental psychology , pregnancy , psychiatry , anxiety , social psychology , genetics , biology , linguistics , philosophy
Postpartum maternal well being across cultures has received limited research attention. We examined relationships among stress, social support, and health in 152 Chinese mothers <1 year postpartum in the United States. These mothers did not perceive high levels of stress, although they did not receive as much support as they indicated they needed; 23.7% of mothers scored high for depressive symptoms. About half of the mothers experienced interrupted sleep, decrease in memory, and lack of sexual desire. All health measures were inter‐correlated. Social support moderated the effects of stress on depressive symptoms. Culturally relevant care that is perceived as supportive may promote postpartum maternal health. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 32:582–591, 2009