The role of psychosocial factors in spontaneous preterm delivery.

Exposure to life events during pregnancy and attitudinal expression of pregnancy desirability and partner support were assessed for 166 mothers of singleton preterm infants and 299 mothers of singleton term infants. White women with a preterm delivery reported a higher number of life events and expressed a more negative attitude toward the pregnancy than white women with a term delivery. No substantial differences in these variables were evident among the black women. However, when level of life events was stratified by pregnancy desirability score, both white and black women with a high pregnancy desirability score were found to be at an increased risk for a preterm delivery when exposed to a high as compared to a low level of life events.