Breast-Feeding Is Associated With Reduced Perceived Stress and Negative Mood in Mothers

Two studies examined the effects of breast-feeding on maternal stress and mood. In Experiment 1, perceived stress in the past month was compared between 28 breast-feeding and 27 bottle-feeding mothers. Breast-feeding mothers reported less perceived stress, after controlling for demographic confounds...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health psychology 2002-03, Vol.21 (2), p.187-193
Main Authors: Mezzacappa, Elizabeth Sibolboro, Katkin, Edward S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect
Analysis of Variance
Anger
Anxiety
Attitudes
Biological and medical sciences
Breast Feeding
Breast Feeding - psychology
Breastfeeding
Case-Control Studies
Depression
Emotional States
Exploratory Behavior
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gynecology and obstetrics
Human
Humans
Maternal stress
Moods
Mothers
Oxytocin - metabolism
Perceived Stress
Psychological Stress
Psychology and medicine
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Stress, Psychological
United States
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Summary:Two studies examined the effects of breast-feeding on maternal stress and mood. In Experiment 1, perceived stress in the past month was compared between 28 breast-feeding and 27 bottle-feeding mothers. Breast-feeding mothers reported less perceived stress, after controlling for demographic confounds. In Experiment 2, mood ratings were assessed in the same 24 mothers both before and then after 1 breast-feeding and 1 bottle-feeding session. Breast-feeding was associated with a decrease in negative mood, and bottle-feeding was associated with a decrease in positive mood from pre- to postfeeding. Results indicated that breast-feeding buffers negative mood. These effects appeared to be attributable to the effects of breast-feeding itself and not solely to individual-differences factors.
ISSN:0278-6133
1930-7810
DOI:10.1037/0278-6133.21.2.187