ArticleAmerican journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council2023
Maternal stress and hair cortisol among pregnant women following hurricane Florence.
Article in American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Spatial Analytic Approach to Maternal Health Following Hurricane Florence (2018).Maternal and child health journal · 2026Article
- Hurricane María and prenatal maternal mental health: Variations in stress, social support, and depression across disaster recovery periods in Puerto Rico.Environmental research · 2026Article
- A Dual Biomarker Approach to Stress: Hair and Salivary Cortisol Measurement in Students via LC-MS/MS.Analytical science advances · 2025Article
- Climate change, evolution, and reproductive health: The impact of water insecurity and heat stress on pregnancy and lactation.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2025Review
- Characterization of hair cortisol concentration pre-conception and during pregnancy.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- Recalibration of the stress response system over adult development: Is there a perinatal recalibration period?Development and psychopathology · 2023Review
- Correlates of preconception and pregnancy hair cortisol concentrations.Research square · 2023Article
- Extreme climatic events and human biology and health: A primer and opportunities for future research.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2023Article
- Maternal stress and hair cortisol among pregnant women following hurricane Florence.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2023Article
- "Go with the Flo": Conducting rapid research on prenatal stress following Hurricane Florence as participant observers.Frontiers in sociology · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Natural disasters represent major stressors, resulting in psychological distress and physiological responses such as increased cortisol. During pregnancy, this impacts not only maternal well-being, but also fetal development. In 2018, Hurricane Florence caused extensive damage across the eastern United States. Studies indicated that compared to married pregnant women, unmarried pregnant women had higher risk of distress. Here we assess hair cortisol among a subsample of participants, and variations based on marital status.
methodsWe analyzed multiple stress measures among 37 participants who were pregnant during Hurricane Florence. We used questionnaires modeled on previous studies to assess hardship associated with the hurricane, psychological distress, sociodemographic characteristics, social support, and food security. We analyzed cortisol concentrations in proximal and distal hair sections, representing stress around the time of the disaster (distal) and 3-4 months following the disaster (proximal). We used linear regression to test relationships between hair cortisol and self-report stress measures, and variations based on marital status.
resultsSelf-report measures of distress and hardship were similar among married and unmarried participants. Mean cortisol levels in distal and proximal sections were higher among unmarried participants. Controlling for confounding variables, hardship was not associated with hair cortisol. Distress predicted cortisol in distal sections (β = .482, p = .018), with a trend for proximal sections (β = .368, p = .055). Marital status was a significant predictor of distal (β = .388, p = .027) and proximal (β = .333, p = .047) hair cortisol, explaining 8.6%-11.7% of unique variance.
conclusionsPreexisting and intersecting risk factors likely place unmarried pregnant individuals at risk of stress during and following a disaster.
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