Associations between maternal stressful life events and child health outcomes in indigenous and non-indigenous groups in New Zealand

Exposure to stressful life events (SLE) around the time of pregnancy is associated with adverse health outcomes for mothers and children. Previous New Zealand research found Indigenous Māori women are more likely to be exposed to SLE than non-Māori, and are exposed to a higher number of SLE. The con...

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Main Authors: Sarah-Jane Paine, Rhiannon Walker, Arier Lee, Belinda Loring, T. Leigh Signal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-10-01
Series:Kōtuitui
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/1177083X.2023.2292262
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author Sarah-Jane Paine
Rhiannon Walker
Arier Lee
Belinda Loring
T. Leigh Signal
author_facet Sarah-Jane Paine
Rhiannon Walker
Arier Lee
Belinda Loring
T. Leigh Signal
author_sort Sarah-Jane Paine
collection DOAJ
description Exposure to stressful life events (SLE) around the time of pregnancy is associated with adverse health outcomes for mothers and children. Previous New Zealand research found Indigenous Māori women are more likely to be exposed to SLE than non-Māori, and are exposed to a higher number of SLE. The consequences of this for ethnic inequities in child health outcomes are unknown. This paper examines the relationship between patterns of maternal SLE exposure with child health and development outcomes at age 3 years, for Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. We found most children had a stressful early life environment at least sometimes, but more than a quarter of Māori children had a mother experiencing multiple SLE on all occasions measured. We found a clear association between maternal experiences of SLE and disordered child sleep and development concerns. While not able to fully assess the contribution of maternal SLE to ethnic inequities in child health outcomes, we did clearly demonstrate that more Māori children have mothers exposed to multiple SLE, and that these maternal SLE are associated with poorer child outcomes. The impacts of chronic SLE exposure need to be better understood, especially given the large ethnic disparity in chronic SLE exposure.
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series Kōtuitui
spelling doaj-art-9e9d56d087e048fe97d1d10ec2bc21162024-11-11T23:42:27ZengTaylor & Francis GroupKōtuitui1177-083X2024-10-0119439340610.1080/1177083X.2023.2292262Associations between maternal stressful life events and child health outcomes in indigenous and non-indigenous groups in New ZealandSarah-Jane Paine0Rhiannon Walker1Arier Lee2Belinda Loring3T. Leigh Signal4Tōmaiora Māori Health Research Group, Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandTōmaiora Māori Health Research Group, Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandSection of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandTōmaiora Māori Health Research Group, Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandSleep/Wake Research Centre, College of Health, Massey University, Wellington, New ZealandExposure to stressful life events (SLE) around the time of pregnancy is associated with adverse health outcomes for mothers and children. Previous New Zealand research found Indigenous Māori women are more likely to be exposed to SLE than non-Māori, and are exposed to a higher number of SLE. The consequences of this for ethnic inequities in child health outcomes are unknown. This paper examines the relationship between patterns of maternal SLE exposure with child health and development outcomes at age 3 years, for Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. We found most children had a stressful early life environment at least sometimes, but more than a quarter of Māori children had a mother experiencing multiple SLE on all occasions measured. We found a clear association between maternal experiences of SLE and disordered child sleep and development concerns. While not able to fully assess the contribution of maternal SLE to ethnic inequities in child health outcomes, we did clearly demonstrate that more Māori children have mothers exposed to multiple SLE, and that these maternal SLE are associated with poorer child outcomes. The impacts of chronic SLE exposure need to be better understood, especially given the large ethnic disparity in chronic SLE exposure.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/1177083X.2023.2292262Indigenousmaternal stressstressful life eventschild healthwomen’s healthinequities
spellingShingle Sarah-Jane Paine
Rhiannon Walker
Arier Lee
Belinda Loring
T. Leigh Signal
Associations between maternal stressful life events and child health outcomes in indigenous and non-indigenous groups in New Zealand
Kōtuitui
Indigenous
maternal stress
stressful life events
child health
women’s health
inequities
title Associations between maternal stressful life events and child health outcomes in indigenous and non-indigenous groups in New Zealand
title_full Associations between maternal stressful life events and child health outcomes in indigenous and non-indigenous groups in New Zealand
title_fullStr Associations between maternal stressful life events and child health outcomes in indigenous and non-indigenous groups in New Zealand
title_full_unstemmed Associations between maternal stressful life events and child health outcomes in indigenous and non-indigenous groups in New Zealand
title_short Associations between maternal stressful life events and child health outcomes in indigenous and non-indigenous groups in New Zealand
title_sort associations between maternal stressful life events and child health outcomes in indigenous and non indigenous groups in new zealand
topic Indigenous
maternal stress
stressful life events
child health
women’s health
inequities
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/1177083X.2023.2292262
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AT rhiannonwalker associationsbetweenmaternalstressfullifeeventsandchildhealthoutcomesinindigenousandnonindigenousgroupsinnewzealand
AT arierlee associationsbetweenmaternalstressfullifeeventsandchildhealthoutcomesinindigenousandnonindigenousgroupsinnewzealand
AT belindaloring associationsbetweenmaternalstressfullifeeventsandchildhealthoutcomesinindigenousandnonindigenousgroupsinnewzealand
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