Stress and social support in high‐risk pregnancy

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Abstract
Relationships of stress, social support, and risk in pregnancy were tested in low‐income women receiving outpatient antepartal care. Nineteen high‐risk and 20 low‐risk women completed the State Anxiety Inventory and Brown's Support Behavior Inventory. Urinary catecholamine levels from a single morning urine sample, determined using High Performance Liquid Chromatography, were used as the indicator of physiological stress. There was a significant difference between the groups in epinephrine level, but not in norepinephrine level, anxiety, or social support scores. In the high‐risk group, norepinephrine level and partner support were negatively correlated; there were no other significant correlations. In the low‐risk group, epinephrine level was positively correlated with norepinephrine level and age; anxiety was negatively correlated with partner support and age.