Parental Resilience Resources and Gestational Length: A Test of Prenatal Maternal Inflammatory Mediation
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Adverse birth outcomes such as preterm birth and low birthweight can engender long-term developmental consequences for the health and well-being of offspring. Prior research demonstrates that chronic inflammation during pregnancy in women increases the risk of both birth and developmental adversities. However, little research has investigated whether protective factors like psychological resilience resources predict lower maternal inflammation in pregnancy and decrease the risk of preterm birth and infant low birth weight. METHODS: In this study, we tested whether resilience resources measured in mothers and fathers predicted longer gestational length and higher birthweight through lower levels of systemic inflammation operationalized as C-reactive protein (CRP) in a sample of 217 parent dyads from the Community Child Health Network (CCHN) study. We also explored whether these effects varied by parental marital status. Resilience resources were conceptualized as a latent factor composed of social support, self-esteem, mastery, and optimism. We then tested a 2-stage latent moderated-mediation model followed by a multigroup structural equation model. RESULTS: We found that paternal resilience resources predicted lower prenatal maternal CRP ( β =-0.39 , p =.009, SE=0.05), which in turn predicted a longer gestational length in married ( β =-0.41, p =.042, SE=0.53) but not unmarried parents, whether cohabiting or not. Maternal resilience resources did not directly predict CRP or birth outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This research suggests that a combination of 4 resilience resources among fathers in married couples may be protective for maternal health.
Source: Psychosomatic Medicine
Authors: Kavya Swaminathan, Christine Guardino, Haiyan Liu, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Documenting the CAPPR Process in the L.A. Site of the Community Child Health Netw, Community Child Health Network: Baltimore, Community Child Health Network: District of Columbia, Community Child Health Network-Los Angeles, Community Child Health Research in Washington, D.C., Community Child Health Network, Eastern North Carolina, Community Child Health Network-Lake County, IL, Data Coordination and Analyses Center for the Community and Child Health Network, Preconception and Prenatal Stress: Pathways to Child Biology and Behavior
OpenAlex ID: W4415979066