Alexander Testa1, Dylan B Jackson2, Michael G Vaughn3, Jennifer K Bello4. 1. Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA. Electronic address: alexander.testa@utsa.edu. 2. Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA. 3. School of Social Work, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO, USA; Graduate School of Social Welfare, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea. 4. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
Abstract
RATIONALE: Exposure to incarceration during pregnancy is a stressful life event that poses risk for both maternal and newborn health. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a pooled, cross-sectional analysis of the link between incarceration exposure of mothers during pregnancy - personally or vicariously through a romantic partner - and maternal and newborn health using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System from years 2012-2015. METHOD: We applied a novel approach that compares mothers who were exposed to incarceration to the strategic comparison group of mothers who were not exposed to incarceration, but experienced varying numbers of stressors. RESULTS: The initial findings indicated that respondents exposed to incarceration exhibited reductions in maternal and newborn health relative to respondents not exposed to incarceration. However, these differences were substantially attenuated when comparing the incarceration-exposed group to a more comparable stressor-exposed reference group. CONCLUSIONS: While incarceration exposure has adverse consequences for health outcomes of mothers and newborns, incarceration exposure may not carry unique implications for maternal and newborn wellbeing beyond the clustering of other stressful life events. Policies targeting incarceration exposure as a means of promoting health must also provide adequate attention to co-occurring stressors.
RATIONALE: Exposure to incarceration during pregnancy is a stressful life event that poses risk for both maternal and newborn health. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a pooled, cross-sectional analysis of the link between incarceration exposure of mothers during pregnancy - personally or vicariously through a romantic partner - and maternal and newborn health using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System from years 2012-2015. METHOD: We applied a novel approach that compares mothers who were exposed to incarceration to the strategic comparison group of mothers who were not exposed to incarceration, but experienced varying numbers of stressors. RESULTS: The initial findings indicated that respondents exposed to incarceration exhibited reductions in maternal and newborn health relative to respondents not exposed to incarceration. However, these differences were substantially attenuated when comparing the incarceration-exposed group to a more comparable stressor-exposed reference group. CONCLUSIONS: While incarceration exposure has adverse consequences for health outcomes of mothers and newborns, incarceration exposure may not carry unique implications for maternal and newborn wellbeing beyond the clustering of other stressful life events. Policies targeting incarceration exposure as a means of promoting health must also provide adequate attention to co-occurring stressors.
Authors: Julie Poehlmann-Tynan; Luke Muentner; Kaitlyn Pritzl; Hilary Cuthrell; Lauren A Hindt; Laurel Davis; Rebecca Shlafer Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-04-23 Impact factor: 3.390
Authors: Alexander Testa; Chantal Fahmy; Dylan B Jackson; Kyle T Ganson; Jason M Nagata Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2022-04-13 Impact factor: 3.295
Authors: Dylan B Jackson; Alexander Testa; Daniel C Semenza; Michael G Vaughn Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-03-25 Impact factor: 3.390