TY - GEN A1 - Scholaske, Laura A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Duman, Elif Aysimi A1 - Adam, Emma K. A1 - Razum, Oliver A1 - Entringer, Sonja T1 - Increased Levels of Psychological Stress and Alterations in Stress Biology during Pregnancy among Women of Turkish-Origin in Germany T2 - Psychoneuroendocrinology N2 - Background People of Turkish origin constitute one of the biggest migrant groups in Germany. They have an increased risk to develop stress-related health disadvantages, and this risk is also prevalent in the offspring generation from early ages on. We have conducted a multi-site prospective cohort study to examine the role of stress and stress biology in this intergenerational perpetuation of health disparities. Methods 140 pregnant women (33 of Turkish origin) participated in a prospective cohort study with two study visits during pregnancy and one after birth (T1: 20-25 weeks of gestation, T2: 30-35 weeks of gestation, T3: four weeks after birth). At T1 and T2, women completed the Perceived Stress Scale and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and collected saliva samples after awakening, 30 minutes after awakening, and in the evening, and venous blood samples were collected for analysis of CRP and IL-6 concentrations. Results Multilevel models showed that Turkish-origin women exhibited higher levels of perceived stress and depressive symptoms, had increased inflammatory levels (Spallek et al., 2021), a blunted cortisol awakening response and flatter diurnal cortisol slope during pregnancy compared to non-migrant women after adjustment for socioeconomic factors.Some of the effects were mainly driven by 2nd generation migrants. Conclusions Increased levels of psychosocial stress and stress-related biological alterations among Turkish-origin pregnant women may contribute to the intergenerational transmission of health disadvantages in this group. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453023002470?via%3Dihub U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106269 SN - 0306-4530 VL - 153 PB - ScienceDirect ER - TY - GEN A1 - Scholaske, Laura A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Entringer, Sonja T1 - Perceived stress and depressive symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum in Turkish-origin women living in German T2 - Journal of Psychosomatic Research N2 - Objective: People of Turkish origin (also referred to as “with a Turkish migrant background”) are one of the largest migrant groups in Germany and show disparities across different stress-related health outcomes. Specifically, women of Turkish origin in Germany have a greater risk for some mental health issues and adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes compared to women without migrant background. We tested differences between women of Turkish origin and women without migrant background in self-reported pregnancy and postpartum stress experiences and depressive symptoms. Methods: 32 women of Turkish origin (mean age 29.7 years) and 77 women without migrant background (mean age 32 years) participated in a multi-site prospective cohort study with two study visits during pregnancy and one month postpartum. Women provided sociodemographic data and completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Center for Epidemiology – Depression (CESD) scale at each study visit. Results: Using hierarchical linear models, we found that women of Turkish origin (both first and second gen- eration) reported more perceived stress (b = 0.57, CI: 0.29–0.84, p < 0.001) and depressive symptoms (b = 0.32, CI = 0.14–0.49, p < 0.001) compared to women without migrant background across gestation. A linear regression analysis showed that there was also a significant difference in depressive symptoms at one month postpartum (b = 0.35, CI = 0.03–0.66, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Tailored psychosocial interventions are needed to address mental health needs of pregnant Turkish origin women and to intervene on the possible transmission of stress-related health disadvantages to their offspring. KW - Depression Turkish origin women KW - Perceived stress KW - Pregnancy KW - Turkish origin women Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2023.111570 SN - 0022-3999 IS - 177 ER -