title: Affective experience in ecologically relevant contexts is dynamic and not progressively attenuated during pregnancy.
abstract: Pregnancy is thought to diminish a woman's appraisal of and affective response to stressors. To examine this assumption, we used an electronic diary and an ecological momentary assessment strategy to record women's (n = 85) experiences of positive and negative affect five times each day over 2 days within each trimester of pregnancy. The women also completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in each trimester. Multilevel modeling indicated nonlinear patterns for both positive and negative affect that differed by the level of depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that changes in the psychological experience over the course of pregnancy are dynamic and not progressively attenuated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Behavioural Research Unit, University of Calgary, NW Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ggiesbre@ucalgary.ca
authors.forename: Gerald F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Giesbrecht
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Letourneau
authors.forename: Tavis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Bonnie J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Kaplan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires