Stress and social support in high‐risk pregnancy

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.