Maternal obesity and childhood maltreatment in pregnant Latina adolescents: Associations with maternal stress, social support, mental health status and infant birth weight

Background: The prevalence of obesity is increasing in the US population, especially among pregnant women extending before, during and after pregnancy. This is a cause for concern, as it poses significant health risks for both mother and infant. Given the urgency of this problem, it is important to examine not only the pathways to obesity in this group but the correlated risks. One significant risk factor for obesity in the general population is childhood maltreatment. This early, varied, and often chronic form of maltreatment, has been associated with long-term adverse physiological and psychological health outcomes across the general population, often conferring heightened risk for health disparities or increasing the burden of already existing disparities. Only two studies have examined childhood maltreatment as a risk factor for maternal obesity and none have examined this relationship in an urban sample of young adult Latina nulliparas. This exploratory study examines relationships between and among a history of early maltreatment, maternal obesity, and key psychosocial risk indices in urban, nulliparous minority adolescents to better understand associations with this risk factor in the context of pregnancy. The Life Course Health Development Framework as outlined by Halfon and Hochstein is the theoretical framework guiding this study. Methods: This descriptive exploratory study performed a retrospective analysis of a subset of interview-collected data from a larger NIH funded prospective cohort study (1R01MH077144-01A2, Monk, PI). Study participants were pregnant, ranging from 14-19 years of age, and recruited from obstetrical practices affiliated with a large academic medical center in New York City. The sample was primarily Hispanic. An exploratory correlational design employed bivariate as well as multivariate analyses to examine associations among maternal childhood maltreatment (MCM), depression, PTSD, perceived stress, social support and maternal obesity as measured by pre-pregnancy BMI. An ...