Despite substantial interest in the effects of stress on pregnancy, few instruments are available to measure pregnancy-specific stressors. Moreover, research has typically focused on the distressing, negative aspects of pregnancy. This report examines the reliability and validity of the Pregnancy Experience Scale (PES), a 41-item scale that measures pregnancy-specific daily hassles and uplifts. The PES was administered to two cohorts of low risk women at 24, 30, and 36 weeks (n = 52) or 32 and 38 weeks (n = 137). Women perceived their pregnancies to be significantly more intensely and frequently uplifting than hassling. Internal scale reliability was high (a = 0.91 to 0.95). Frequency and intensity scores for hassles and uplifts were stable over time (r's = 0.56 to 0.83) and patterns of convergent and discriminant validity emerged between the PES and existing measures of general affective intensity, daily stressors, depressive symptoms, and anxiety. These results indicate that (1) failure to measure pregnancy-specific stress will underestimate the degree to which pregnant women experience distress and (2) measurement of only the negative aspects of pregnancy will overestimate distress and fail to portray the degree to which women are psychologically elevated by their pregnancies. Measurement of hassles relative to uplifts may provide the most balanced assessment of pregnancy appraisal.

The authors investigated the association between maternal psychological and fetal neurobehavioral functioning. Data were provided by 52 maternal-fetal pairs at 24, 30, and 36 weeks gestation. The relations between maternal measures and fetal heart rate, variability, and motor activity were statistically modeled. Fetuses of women who were more affectively intense, appraised their lives as more stressful, and reported more frequent pregnancy-specific hassles were more active across gestation. Fetuses of women who perceived their pregnancy to be more intensely and frequently uplifting and had positive emotional valence toward pregnancy were less active. Associations with fetal heart-rate measures were detected at 36 weeks gestation. These data provide evidence for proximal effects of maternal psychological functioning on fetal neurobehavior.

Marriage reduces risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) but marital stress increases risk, perhaps through cardiovascular reactivity (CVR). However, previous studies have lacked controls necessary to conclude definitively that negative marital interactions evoke heightened CVR. To test the specific effects of marital stress on CVR, 114 couples engaged in positive, neutral, or negative interactions in which speaking and task involvement were controlled. Compared to positive and neutral conditions, negative discussions evoked larger increases in systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output, and larger decreases in peripheral resistance and pre-ejection period--similarly for men and women. Hence, CVR could contribute to the effects of marital difficulties on CVD. Previous evidence of sex differences in this effect might reflect factors other than simple reactivity to negative interactions.

Prior theory and research regarding age differences in marital interaction suggest that older couples display and experience more positivity and less negativity than middle-aged couples. However, studies of overt behavior in older couples are relatively rare and have emphasized disagreement, neglecting other important contexts for older couples such as collaboration during everyday problem solving. Further, the affiliation or communion dimension of social interaction (i.e., warmth vs. hostility) is commonly assessed, but not the control or agency dimension (e.g., dominance vs. submissiveness). The present study examined affect, cognitive appraisals, and overt behavior during disagreement (i.e., discussing a current conflict) and collaboration (i.e., planning errands) in 300 middle-aged and older married couples. Older couples reported less negative affect during disagreement and rated spouses as warmer than did middle-aged couples. However, these effects were eliminated when older couples’ greater marital satisfaction was controlled. For observed behavior, older couples displayed little evidence of greater positivity and reduced negativity – especially women. During collaboration, older couples displayed a unique blend of warmth and control, suggesting a greater focus on emotional and social concerns during problem solving.