Discussion – Chronic Stress and Infant Mortality

Discussion – Chronic Stress and Infant Mortality

Question 1

Cortisol is one of the hormones that are released when one is under chronic stress, which then disrupts the normal body’s physiological functions, causing more harm as the stress period gets prolonged. This is where the concept of allostatic load comes from, and the term generally refers to the accumulative burden that chronic stress brings to the body, which is negative health outcomes. Examples of such negative health outcomes are especially evident in pregnant women, including complications during pregnancy like low birth weight and pre-term birth, among others. The allostatic load can be measured through different health indicators like cortisol levels, cholesterol, and blood pressure.

On the other hand, weathering describes accelerated aging as well as deterioration of health as a result of chronic exposure to stress (Bingham et al., 2016). African American women are known to experience weathering because they are under constant stress brought about by discrimination on the basis of race as well as gender. Society is largely patriarchal, which puts women at a disadvantage, on top of that, there is institutional racism, meaning that black women face compounded stress from these factors throughout their lives. Notably, this discrimination affects their everyday lives from being denied opportunities and resources, bad education, denied housing and loans, and poor healthcare services, among others, all of which eventually contribute to higher allostatic load scores. Notably, prolonged stress leads to harm to the body, causing illnesses like hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and depression, not to mention drug abuse, all of these then contributing to the health disparities seen in this population (Gross et al., 2019).

Question 2

The first main risk factor of infant mortality is poverty. Poverty exposes women and their babies to all vulnerabilities associated with infant death, for example, lack of prenatal care and lack of education, which means that mothers lack the knowledge needed to take care of an infant (Newman & Newman, 2018). Secondly, poverty means that parents live in poor conditions like starving, poor housing and clothing, and cannot afford healthcare, all of which puts the child in danger. The second main cause of infant mortality is maternal drug usage, especially when the usage takes place beyond the first trimester. According to Elliott et al. (2020), smoking and drinking beyond the first trimester increases the chances of infant death by twelve times. Lastly, yet importantly, the age of the mother is also a main determinant of an infant’s mortality right after birth. Girls below sixteen years and women above the age of thirty-five do not have conducive uterine conditions suitable for the healthy development of a child (Newman & Newman, 2018). As such, giving birth within this age places the infant at high risk of mortality during or shortly after pregnancy.

References

Bingham, B. A., Duong, M. T., Ricks, M., Mabundo, L. S., Baker Jr, R. L., Utumatwishima, J. N., … & Sumner, A. E. (2016). The association between stress measured by allostatic load score and physiologic dysregulation in African immigrants: The Africans in America study. Frontiers in public health, 4, 265.

Elliott, A. J., Kinney, H. C., Haynes, R. L., Dempers, J. D., Wright, C., Fifer, W. P., … & Dukes, K. A. (2020). Concurrent prenatal drinking and smoking increases risk for SIDS: Safe passage study report. EClinicalMedicine, 19.

Gross, E., Efetevbia, V., & Wilking, A. (2019). Racism and sexism against Black women may contribute to high rates of Black infant mortality. Child Trends. https://www.childtrends.org/publications/racism-sexism-against-black-women-may-contribute-high-rates-black-infant-mortality

Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2018). Development through life: A psychosocial approach. Dorsey.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Discussion – Chronic Stress and Infant Mortality

In a post, answer the following questions:
Question 1: Listen to What’s Behind the High Black Infant Mortality Rates? Racism, Not Race [4:58] and read Racism and Sexism Against Black Women may Contribute to High Rate of Black Infant Mortality.
A: In 4-6 sentences, what is an allostatic load score?
B: In 4-6 sentences, how does it contribute to “weathering” experienced by African American women? Answer must include information from the article.
Question 2: Read the Infant Mortality section of Chapter 4 from Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach.
A: In 150 words, discuss the 3 causes of infant death in the first month after birth. Answer must describe specific information from textbook.