Maternal Biopsychosocial Stress and Subsequent Fertility Behavior in Norway

Maryam Gulraiz , Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Steffen Peters, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Objective: In the landscape of declining fertility in high-income countries like Norway, purely economic explanations are insufficient to capture the full picture. This study investigates a complementary biopsychosocial pathway of stress experienced by mothers around childbirth, and its influence on subsequent fertility trajectories. The relative importance of distinct stress domains is further examined. Methods: Data will be utilized from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort (MoBa), linked with national administrative registers. Biopsychosocial stress will be measured using mid-pregnancy biomarkers to construct an allostatic load index representing biological stress, and postpartum questionnaires assessing psychological stress like perceived distress/anxiety, and social stress like loneliness/low support. Latent Profile Analysis will identify distinct maternal stress profiles. Subsequent fertility outcomes such as timing of next birth and likelihood of family completion within 5 years, obtained from registers, will be analyzed using event history analysis (Cox models) and logistic regression. Expected Results: We hypothesize that mothers experiencing higher cumulative biopsychosocial stress, particularly profiles combining high psychological/social stress with high allostatic load, will exhibit significant delays in subsequent births and a lower likelihood of having another child compared to low-stress mothers. Biological stress (allostatic load) is expected to show a strong independent association with fertility outcomes. The relative contributions of each stress domain will be explored. Conclusions: This research aims to provide novel evidence on non-economic drivers of fertility behavior in a Nordic context. Findings could highlight how embodied stress influences reproductive trajectories and contributes to social inequalities in fertility, informing public health and family policy.

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 Presented in Session 1. Flash Session Fertility and Health