Is Subjective Social Status Associated with Maternal and Child Allostatic Load and Maternal Mental Health in Rural Nicaragua?

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dc.contributor.advisorWilson, Warren
dc.contributor.authorKushlyk, Kristan
dc.contributor.committeememberRoss, Kharah
dc.contributor.committeememberVenkataraman, Vivek
dc.date2022-02
dc.date.accessioned2022-01-26T16:54:36Z
dc.date.available2022-01-26T16:54:36Z
dc.date.issued2022-01
dc.description.abstractThe marginalisation of women and children is manifest in disproportionately poor maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes cross-culturally. Subjective social status (SSS), a measure of one’s perceived rank relative to others within the social hierarchy, has been found to be more predictive of health than objectives measures of socioeconomic status (OSS) in some contexts, but a paucity of data exists on the topic outside of high-income countries (HICs). This cross-sectional study aims to help fill this gap by investigating the association between SSS and measures of maternal and child physical health, conceptualised as allostatic load (AL), and maternal mental health (MMH) in Los Robles, Nicaragua. Multiple regression modelling was carried out to test the hypotheses that SSS would be associated with weighted indices of maternal and child AL, and also common mental disorder (CMD) risk, as assessed using a screening questionnaire. A high prevalence of probable CMDs (22.8%) was documented among mothers in the sample. Higher SSS was significantly associated with an increased risk for CMDs (adj R2 = 0.25, p < 0.001) among mothers in Los Robles but, inconsistent with most other research on the topic, was not significantly associated with maternal (adj R2 = 0.024, p = 0.096) or child (adj R2 = 0.014, p = 0.17) AL. These findings indicate that SSS has important implications for MMH and that findings in HICs concerning predictors of physical health may not be applicable to low-and-middle-income countries.en_US
dc.identifier.citationKushlyk, K. (2022). Is subjective social status associated with maternal and child allostatic load and maternal mental health in rural Nicaragua? (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/39549
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/114337
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArtsen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectSubjective Social Statusen_US
dc.subjectAllostatic Loaden_US
dc.subjectMaternal and Child Healthen_US
dc.subjectCommon Mental Disordersen_US
dc.subjectLMICen_US
dc.subject.classificationAnthropologyen_US
dc.subject.classificationMental Healthen_US
dc.subject.classificationPublic Healthen_US
dc.titleIs Subjective Social Status Associated with Maternal and Child Allostatic Load and Maternal Mental Health in Rural Nicaragua?en_US
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineAnthropologyen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts (MA)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
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