The Relationship between Life Stress and Breastfeeding Outcomes among Low-Income Mothers

Table 1

Maternal characteristics.

	𝑛 (%); 𝑛=341
Age
𝑛,  Mean	325, 26.3
[Minimum–Maximum]	[14.0–45.0]
Race^a
White	87 (26.1)
Black	132 (39.6)
Hispanic	84 (25.2)
Mixed and other	30 (9.0)
Language spoken at home^a
English only	238 (70.6)
English and Spanish	56 (16.6)
Spanish or other only	22 (6.5)
Other bi-multi-lingual	21 (6.2)
Education^a
<High school	56 (16.4)
≥High school	254 (74.5)
Unknown	31 (9.1)
Inner-City residence^b
Yes	220 (64.5)
BF Plan^a
Less than 3 months/none	149 (44.1)
4+ Months	189 (55.9)
Parity and BF
First baby	157 (46.0)
Breastfed prior Infant—Yes	148 (43.4)
Breastfed prior Infant—No	36 (10.6)
Self-Reported depression during or right after most recent pregnancy
Yes	90 (26.4)
Prepregnancy BMI^a
<25.0	152 (46.6)
25–29.9	87 (26.7)
>30.0	87 (26.7)
Alcohol use^a
Never/previous	170 (50.1)
Current use	169 (49.9)
Smoking^a
Not now/never	251 (74.9)
Current use	84 (25.1)
Overall stress
𝑛, Mean	325, 2.5
[Minimum–Maximum]	[0.0–11.0]
Financial stress^c
Yes	224 (65.7)
Emotional stress^d
Yes	100 (29.3)
Traumatic stress^e
Yes	102 (29.9)
Partner-Associated stress^f
Yes	169 (49.6)

Abbreviations: BF: breastfeeding; BMI: Body mass index.
^a𝑛<341.
^bDefined using 9 urban zip codes with elevated levels of poverty.
^cFinancial stress defined as answering yes to one of the following occurring during or in the month after pregnancy: big problems with money, moved to a new address.
^dEmotional stress defined as answering yes to one of the following occurring during or in the month after pregnancy: family member had serious accident/illness, husband/partner had serious accident/illness, husband/partner died, friend/relative died.
^eTraumatic stress defined as answering yes to one of the following occurring during or in the month after pregnancy: stayed in a shelter or needed emergency shelter, physical fights with partner/husband or someone else, husband/partner had legal trouble and/or went to jail, mother had legal trouble and/or went to jail, someone very close had a problem with drinking or drugs.
^fPartner-Associated stress defined as answering yes to one of the following occurring during or in the month after pregnancy: separated from husband/partner, argued with husband/partner more often, husband/partner said he did not want pregnancy.