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Health and Well‐Being of Childbearing Women in Rural and Urban Contexts
Author(s) -
Walker Lorraine O.,
Walker Misha L.,
Walker Mary E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
the journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.439
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1748-0361
pISSN - 0890-765X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-0361.1994.tb00226.x
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , childbirth , rural area , medicine , demography , environmental health , health promotion , gerontology , public health , pregnancy , psychology , population , nursing , sociology , pathology , biology , genetics
As part of the national focus on women's health issues, it is important to identify those health‐related characteristics of rural women that distinguish them from women living in urban settings. The aim of this study was to compare rural and urban childbearing women on socioeconomic characteristics, perceived stress, health‐related practices, illness symptoms, parenting confidence, and body weight. One hundred sixty‐five midwestern women responded to a health survey sent to them six months after childbirth. Rural women were younger and less educationally and economically advantaged compared to urban women. Before adjusting for these differences, rural women were less self‐actualized, more interpersonally isolated, and reported less healthy nutrition than urban women. These differences disappeared when socioeconomic differences were adjusted. Rural and urban mothers did not differ in most other areas, including perceived stress, parenting confidence, and body weight. Compared to national norms, the perceived stress levels of both rural and urban mothers were significantly higher than a probability sample of U.S. women. Findings support the role of socioeconomic factors as contributing to risk of poor health promotion among rural childbearing women.