Familialism, social support, and stress: positive implications for pregnant Latinas.
This study examined the association of familialism, a cultural value that emphasizes close family relationships, with social support, stress, pregnancy anxiety, and infant birth weight. Foreign-born Latina (n = 31), U.S.-born Latina (n = 68), and European American (n = 166) women living in the United States participated in a prospective study of pregnancy in which they completed measures of familialism, social support, stress, and pregnancy anxiety during their second trimester. As expected, Latinas scored higher on familialism than European Americans. Familialism was positively correlated with social support and negatively correlated with stress and pregnancy anxiety in the overall sample. As predicted, however, the associations of familialism with social support and stress were significantly stronger among Latinas than European Americans. Moreover, higher social support was associated with higher infant birth weight among foreign-born Latinas only. Implications of cultural values for relationships and health are discussed.
Campos
Belinda
B
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. bcampos@uci.edu
Schetter
Christine Dunkel
CD
Abdou
Cleopatra M
CM
Hobel
Calvin J
CJ
Glynn
Laura M
LM
Sandman
Curt A
CA
D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012944:Social Support; D012945:Social Values; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*