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01-12-2012 | Short Communication

Affective experience in ecologically relevant contexts is dynamic and not progressively attenuated during pregnancy

Authors: Gerald F. Giesbrecht, Nicole Letourneau, Tavis Campbell, Bonnie J. Kaplan, The APrON Study Team

Published in: Archives of Women's Mental Health | Issue 6/2012

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.

The data could be structured in four levels (moments within days, within trimesters, and within persons); however, for simplicity, we used a two-level structure.

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Title: Affective experience in ecologically relevant contexts is dynamic and not progressively attenuated during pregnancy
Authors: Gerald F. Giesbrecht
Nicole Letourneau
Tavis Campbell
Bonnie J. Kaplan
The APrON Study Team
Publication date: 01-12-2012
Publisher: Springer Vienna
Published in: Archives of Women's Mental Health / Issue 6/2012
Print ISSN: 1434-1816
Electronic ISSN: 1435-1102
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-012-0300-4

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Affective experience in ecologically relevant contexts is dynamic and not progressively attenuated during pregnancy

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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