Longitudinal Study on the Changes of Mothers' Stress and Cortisol From Pregnancy to Postpartum Period

출산 전후 어머니 스트레스 변화의 종단적 연구

This study examines the relationship between mother's stress and cortisol level during late pregnancy and how it changes into postpartum periods. Thirty one families were recruited from Daejeon and Incheon in South Korea. The major findings were as follows: (1) The level of mothers' cortisol followed the typical diurnal pattern of decline throughout the day. Further longitudinal analysis revealed that the level of Korean mothers' cortisol steadily lowered from the 8th prenatal month to the 6th postnatal month. (2) During pregnancy, mothers reported to experience changes in physical activities, daily routines, eating habits, types or amount of social activities and sleeping habits. Among these they were stressed the most by changes in physical activities and social activities. (3) The results of postpartum depression tests conducted at two months after giving birth showed mothers at this time were mostly stressed from difficulty sleeping and unnecessary self criticism. (4) The level of psycho social stress in mothers at six months after giving birth was mainly on social roles and the questions about self reliance marked the highest points. (5) Overall, there was a tendency for the level of maternal stress to decrease definitely from before and after the delivery and even though the level of stress was steadily decreasing up to 6th postpartum month it was not as sharp as those of before and after the birth of the babies. The level of cortisol analysis also showed the same obvious tendency.