Happiness in Pregnant African American Women: What Are the Biobehavioral Correlates?

The detrimental effects of prenatal stress on maternal-infant well-being have been well established and highlight increased concern for pregnant African American women. Research supports the notion that positive emotions may have a beneficial impact on the stress process and outcomes. However, the data have been largely restricted to non-African American pregnant women. This study's purpose was to examine potential relationships of both positive (happiness) and negative (stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms) emotions and pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukins-1β, -6, -8, -12, -17, tumor necrosis factor, and interferon-γ) in 72 pregnant African American women for a more complete picture of the stress process in this at-risk population. Results of this exploratory secondary data analysis show strong positive correlations between negative emotions and strong negative correlations between happiness and negative emotions. Interleukin-8 was positively correlated with negative emotions and negatively correlated with happiness. Results show mean ratings of negative emotions were higher than previously reported with more heterogeneous samples, while happiness ratings were in the moderate range. Findings suggest that pregnant African American women may experience higher stress and depressive symptoms than women in more heterogeneous samples. However, moderate levels of happiness might contribute to buffering the stress response.