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Financial strain and birth weight: the mediating role of psychological distress

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An Erratum to this article was published on 11 July 2017

Abstract

The effects of financial strain during pregnancy have received limited attention. In addition, data examining the pathways by which SES indicators contribute to birth weight are lacking. The objective of the current study was to examine the potential pathway of psychological distress in the relationship between financial strain and birth weight. Participants consisted of 138 pregnant women who completed measures assessing financial strain, depressive symptoms, pregnancy-specific distress, perceived stress, and general anxiety during pregnancy (mean gestational age = 18.5, SD = 7.2). Birth outcome data were obtained via medical record review. Simple and parallel mediation models were conducted using PROCESS. Simple mediation models showed that depressive symptoms (95% CI −24.65, −0.90) and pregnancy-specific distress (95% CI −37.31, −5.91), but not perceived stress (95% CI −31.17, 4.69) or anxiety (95% CI −25.84, 5.57), served as mediators in the relationship between financial strain and birth weight. When depressive symptoms and pregnancy-specific distress were included in the same mediation model, only pregnancy-specific distress remained significant. Financial strain was positively associated with all facets of psychological distress and negatively associated with birth weight during pregnancy. The current study demonstrated the mechanistic role of pregnancy-specific distress in the link between financial strain and birth weight in a racially diverse sample. Interventions targeting pregnancy-specific distress may mitigate the effects of financial strain on birth weight. Studies examining whether pregnancy-specific distress accounts for the relationship between other types of stressor exposures and birth weight would be informative.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the contributions of our Clinical Research Assistants and students to data collection. We would like to thank our study participants and the staff at the OSU Clinical Research Center and Wexner Medical Center Prenatal Clinic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA

    Amanda M. Mitchell & Lisa M. Christian

  2. Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 460 Medical Center Drive, Room 112, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Amanda M. Mitchell & Lisa M. Christian

  3. Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Lisa M. Christian

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA

    Lisa M. Christian

Authors
  1. Amanda M. Mitchell
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  2. Lisa M. Christian
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Correspondence to Lisa M. Christian.

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The study was approved by the OSU Biomedical Institutional Review Board.

Financial disclosures

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01 NR01366). The project described was supported by Award Number Grant UL1TR001070 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences or the National Institutes of Health.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00737-017-0756-3.

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Mitchell, A.M., Christian, L.M. Financial strain and birth weight: the mediating role of psychological distress. Arch Womens Ment Health 20, 201–208 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-016-0696-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-016-0696-3

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