Postpartum Physical Health: The Role of Mothers' Adverse Childhood Experiences and Material Hardship

Objective: Postpartum physical health is a neglected field of research, yet postpartum physical health problems can significantly interfere with mothers' abilities to meet personal, familial, and work-related responsibilities. This study sought to provide increased understanding of the role that social determinants of health-adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), material hardship, and social support; and discrimination-play in mothers' postpartum physical health. Method: An online survey was completed by a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample (n = 306) of United States women (age 18 and older) who delivered a live baby within the previous year. Results: Logistic regression results demonstrated that mothers' ACEs and material hardship were associated with poorer self-rated postpartum physical health. Furthermore, an interaction between ACEs and material hardship was found suggesting that ACEs did not impact physical health as strongly for mothers who reported material hardship when compared to mothers who did not. No associations were found for social support or experiences of discrimination. Conclusion: Study results provide further support for macrolevel interventions to prevent ACEs and material hardship and to intercede in existing cases to reduce negative effects on postpartum physical health. Clinical Impact StatementThis research shows that mothers who reported current financial instability and potentially traumatic experiences in their childhood were more likely to rate their postpartum health as poor. Additionally, traumatic childhood experiences had less of a negative influence on mothers' physical health when mothers were not financially secure. This suggests that a current economic insecurity may serve as a type of current trauma to be principally addressed, ahead of a previous experience of childhood trauma. Policymakers and practitioners should focus efforts toward the security of maternal economic well-being and prevention of adverse childhood experiences to enhance postpartum health and improve mothers' quality of life.