An evolutionary perspective on the association between grandmother-mother relationships and maternal mental health among a cohort of pregnant Latina women |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States of America;2. Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States of America;1. Department of Psychology and Criminology, Heidelberg University, Tiffin, OH, USA;2. Oklahoma Center for Evolutionary Analysis, Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA;1. Oklahoma Center for Evolutionary Analysis, Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA;2. Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Tiffin, OH, USA;3. Department of Criminology, Heidelberg University, Tiffin, OH, USA;4. Department of Psychology, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, USA;1. Kochi University of Technology, Japan;2. University of Kent, UK;3. Leiden University, the Netherlands;1. Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States;2. Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States;4. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States;1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;2. Saint Mary''s University, Halifax, NS, Canada;3. University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Grandmothers are often critical helpers during a mother's reproductive career. Studies on the developmental origins of health and disease demonstrate how maternal psychological distress can negatively influence fetal development and birth outcomes, highlighting an area in which soon-to-be grandmothers (henceforth “grandmothers”) can invest to improve both mother and offspring well-being. Here, we examine if and how a pregnant woman's mental health– specifically, depression, state-anxiety, and pregnancy-related anxiety– is influenced by her relationship with her fetus' maternal and paternal grandmother, controlling for relationship characteristics with her fetus' father. In a cohort of pregnant Latina women in Southern California (N = 216), we assessed social support, geographic proximity, and communication between the fetus' grandmothers and pregnant mother. We assessed maternal mental health with validated questionnaire-based instruments. We find that both social support from and communication with the maternal grandmother were statistically associated with less depression, while no paternal grandmother relationship characteristics were statistically significant in association with any mental health variable. These results align with the idea that maternal grandmothers are more adaptively incentivized to invest in their daughters' well-being during pregnancy than paternal grandmothers are for their daughters-in-law. Results suggest that the positive association of maternal grandmothers with mothers' mental health may not hinge on geographic proximity, but rather, potentially function through emotional support. This work represents a novel perspective describing a psychological and prenatal grandmaternal effect. |
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