Stress process among mothers of infants: preliminary model testing.

Maternal employment, cesarean birth, and infant difficultness were used to test the mediating effect of perceived stress and the stress-buffering role of health practices on maternal identity. One hundred seventy-three mothers returned a parenting survey that focused on: stressors, perceived stress, health practices, maternal identity, and a demographic profile. Work status and infant difficultness were related to perceived stress. Neither had direct effects on maternal identity, but were related to it through the mediating effects of perceived stress. While health practices did not show buffering effects between stressors and perceived stress, these did contribute additively to the prediction of stress perception. Also, health practices contributed additively to the prediction of identity. Notable among the health practices predicting identity were self-actualizing expression, nutrition, interpersonal support, and stress management. These findings support a stress process model of parenting in which: (a) effects of stressors on maternal identity are mediated by perception of stress, and (b) health practices contribute positively and directly to maternal identity.