WHAT ARE OUR STUDY GOALS? / ANO ANG ATING MGA LAYUNIN SA PANANALIKSIK?

We examine how pregnant and recently pregnant Filipino mothers view the political climate and how much these mothers experience stress from their environment. We also examine how Filipino culture can serve as a coping strategy to help reduce stress.

Sinusurinamin kung paano tinitingnan ng mga buntis at kamakailang buntis ang klima sa politika ng Pilipinas at kung paano sila nakakaranas ng stress mula sa kanilang kapaligiran. Sinusuri din namin kung paano magsisilbing diskarte sa pagharap ang kulturang Pilipino upang makatulong ito sa pagbabawas ng stress.

HOW WAS THIS DONE? / PAANO ITO GINAWA?

We recruited 21 pregnant and recently pregnant Filipino mothers from all over the Philippines. We conducted virtual interviews. The average mother was 28 years old, high school graduate, with more than 1 child. About half of the mothers were pregnant at the time of the interviews.

Nag-recruitkami ng 21 buntis at kamakailang buntis na mga nanay mula sa buong Pilipinas. Nagsagawa kami ng mga virtual na panayam. Ang karaniwang ina ay 28 taong gulang, nakapagtapos ng high school, at may higit sa 1 anak. Halos kalahati ng mga ina ay buntis sa panahon ng mga panayam.

WHY IT MATTERS? / BAKIT ITO MAHALAGA?

Most research on stress and pregnancy are done in the U.S. in other European countries. Cultural values are often not addressed. As a result, there is a lot that we don't know about how mothers cope with stress and whether cultural values act as a coping strategy.

Karamihan sa mga pananaliksik sa stress at pagbubuntis ay ginagawa sa U.S. at sa ibang mga bansa sa Europa. Ang kultura ay kadalasang hindi madalas sinasaliksik . Bilang resulta, marami tayong hindi alam kung paano hinaharap ng mga ina ang stress at kung ang kultura ay nagsisilbing pamamaraan sa pagharap.

WHAT WAS FOUND? / ANO ANG NATAGPUAN?

While most women reported feeling stressed due to their environment, there was a wide range in these reports. Using thematic analysis to systematically identify themes, we found that mothers who reported stress from their environments were shaped by three major categories. This ranged from aspects of themselves that we could visibly like the amount of interaction mothers have with the media (e.g., news, Facebook) to the aspects that are deeply rooted within us like the cultural values and attitudes that we believe in that make us respond differently. Between these two categories is the unseen culture which is how much mothers consider themselves to be directly affected by their environment. Altogether, our results suggest that how pregnant and recently pregnant mothers respond and cope with stress is deeply rooted in Filipino cultural values and norms, specifically, the "bahala na" culture.

Habang ang karamihan ng mga babae ay nag-ulat na nakakaramdam ng stress dahil sa kanilang kapaligiran, nakita namin na may maraming iba’t ibang mga karanasan sa kanilang mga sagot. Gamit ang thematic analysis upang sistematikong matukoy ang mga tema, natutunan namin na ang mga ina na nag-ulat ng stress mula sa kanilang mga kapaligiran ay bahagi ng tatlong pangunahing kategorya. Ito ay mula sa mga aspeto ng kanilang mga sarili na kitang-kita natin tulad ng paggamit ng mga ina ng media (e.g., nanonood or nakikinig ng balita, bumabasa ng posts sa Facebook), hanggang sa mga aspeto na malalim sa atin, tulad ng mga kultural na halaga at pinaniniwalaan natin. Sa pagitan ng dalawang kategoryang ito ay kultura na hindi nakikita kung saan itinuturing ng mga ina ang kanilang sarili na direktang apektado ng kanilang kapaligiran. Iminumungkahi ng aming mga resulta na kung paano tumugon at nakakaharap sa stress ang mga buntis at kamakailang buntis na mga ina ay malalim na nakaugat sa mga halaga at pamantayan ng kulturang Pilipino, partikular, ang kulturang "bahala na".

WHAT DOES IT MEAN? / ANONG IBIG SABIHIN NITO?

Our findings contribute to the cross-cultural nature of prenatal stress and how the socio-political climate might impact maternal health during pregnancy. More research is needed to understand what are the different kinds of coping strategies for women experiencing stressful environments and their effects on pregnancy biology.

Ang aming mga natuklasan ay nag-aambag sa cross-cultural na kalikasan ng prenatal stress at kung paano maaaring makaapekto ang sosyo-politikal na klima sa kalusugan ng ina sa panahon ng pagbubuntis. Marami pang pananaliksik ang kailangan upang maunawaan ang iba't ibang uri ng mga pamamaraan para sa kahirapan ng mga babae na nakakaranas ng mga nakaka-stress na kapaligiran at ang kanilang mga epekto sa biology ng pagbubuntis.

This summary describes the work of:

Chua, K. J., *Pamonag, Z., Francisco, L. L., Asuncion, J. G., Bigham, A. W., & Boddy, A. "Embodiment of the socio-political climate among pregnant Filipina women. For more information, please contact Dr. Kristine Joy Chua at kristinechua@ucsb.edu.

Inilalarawan ng buod na ito ang gawain ni:

Chua, K. J., *Pamonag, Z., Francisco, L. L., Asuncion, J. G., Bigham, A. W., & Boddy, A. "Embodiment of the socio-political climate among pregnant Filipina women. Para sa karagdagang impormasyon, mangyaring makipag-ugnayan Dr. Kristine Joy Chua at kristinechua@ucsb.edu.

†Chua, K. J., †Knorr, D., Jimenez, J., Rojas, V., Francia, A., Garcia, J. I., & Fox, M. (2023). What do your neighbors think about you? How perceived neighborhood attitudes towards Latinos influence mental health among a pregnant Latina cohort. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Disparities.1-12. [PDF]

†both authors contributed equally.

Wiley, K.S., Knorr, D., Chua, K. J., Garcia, S. & Fox, M. (2023). Sociopolitical stressors are associated with psychological distress in a cohort of Latina women during early pregnancy. Journal of Community Psychology, 51(7), 3044-3059. [PDF]

Hotez, E., Chua, K.J., Samras, N., Smith, A.M., & Kuo, A. (2023). Preliminary pilot testing of social determinants of health screening for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Med-Peds. Cureus. 15(5). e38541. [PDF]

Chua, K. J., Lukaszewski, A. W., & Manson, J. (2020). Sex-specific effects of harsh childhood environment on psychometrically assessed life history strategy: No mediation through developmental timing or embodied capital. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology. 6(3), 307-333. [PDF]

Sangkhae, V., Fisher, A. L., Chua, K. J., Ruchala, P., Ganz, T., & Nemeth, E. (2020). Maternal hepcidin determines embryo iron homeostais. Blood, 136(19), 2206-2216. [PDF]

Chua, K. J. & Manson, J. (2020). Absence prior to puberty. In Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2037-1 [PDF]

Clauss, N., Byrd-Craven, J., & Kennison, S. M., & Chua, K. J. (2017). The roles of mothers’ partner satisfaction and mother-infant communication duration in mother-infant adrenocortical attunement. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 1-17. [PDF]

Chua, K. J., Lukaszewski, A. W., Grant, D. M., & Sng, O. Human life history strategies: Calibrated to external or internal cues? (2017). Evolutionary Psychology, 15(1), 1-16. [PDF]

Chua, K. J. (2016). Stress reactivity. In Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1921-1. [PDF]

Chua, K. J., Pamonag, Z., Art, M.C.,Francisco, L. L., Asuncion, J. G., Bigham, A. W. (2023, August). Culture- bound attitudes and the embodiment of socio-political stress in pregnant Filipina women. Poster presentation at the annual meeting of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, Irvine, CA.

Chua, K. J., Knorr, D. A., & Fox, M. M. (2020, October). The role of individual and subjective neighborhood socio-cultural identity and ethnic attitudes in maternal mental health in a pregnant Latina population. Population Centers of the University of California Event, “Race and Inequality: A Collaborative UCPop Event,” Virtual Meeting.

Chua,K. J. (2020, March). Epigenetics of maternal-fetal programming in pregnancy. Invited talk at the Center of Social Human Nature. California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, CA.

Chua,K. J., Manson, J., & Fox, M. M. (2020, April; accepted, conference cancelled due to COVID-19). A life history perspective on perceived mortality risk in the Philippines: The relationship between political dynamics, future safety, and birth outcomes. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Human Biological Association, Los Angeles, CA.

Chua,K. J. (2019, July). Conducting research in the Philippines and basic quantitative approaches. Invited talk at 1 st Graduate Lecture Series in
Advanced Biology, Mariano Marcos State University, Batac City, Philippines.