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Male Violence, Stress, and Neuroendocrine Parameters in Pregnancy: A Pilot Study

Department of Family & Child Nursing at the University of Washington, Seattle, ptalley{at}u.washington.edu

Margaret Heitkemper, PhD, RN, FAAN

Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems at the University of Washington, Seattle

Alexandra Chicz-Demet, PhD

Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine

Curt A. Sandman, PhD

Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine

Stress during pregnancy has been associated with a number of adverse outcomes. This study compared and correlated neuroendocrine parameters in women (n = 8) who self-reported battering during their pregnancy to those in women who did not (n = 8). Women who identified themselves as having a violent relationship with an intimate partner were recruited from a rural midwestern community. They were matched on age, self-reported ethnicity, parity, gestational age, and personal and family income with nonbattered controls. Midgestational measures of self-reported stress levels showed that battered women reported markedly higher levels of anxiety and depression. Neuroendocrine levels were not different between groups (battered vs. nonbattered); however, the relationships among hormones were different between groups. In nonbattered women, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol levels were correlated but not in battered women. Beta endorphin and ACTH levels in battered women showed a significant linear relationship but not in nonbattered women. These results suggest that the maternal experience of stress alters the relationship of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-placental axis hormones despite the lack of absolute differences in blood levels.

Key Words: stress • posttraumatic stress disorder • pregnancy • neuroendocrine parameters • HPA-placental axis • male violence

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