Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2025 Jul 5.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Perinatol. 2025 Mar 29;42(15):2024–2031. doi: 10.1055/a-2554-0925

Table 1.

Maternal psychosocial, behavioral, and medical characteristics compared by race/ethnicity

non-Hispanic White (n = 5,296) non-Hispanic Black (n = 1,122) Hispanic (n = 1,477) Asian (n = 342) Other (n = 435)
Psychosocial characteristics
 Married 4,022 (76%) 151 (13%) 549 (37%) 297 (87%) 188 (43%)
Income
 > 200% federal poverty level 3,810 (79%) 214 (31%) 455 (50%) 269 (87%) 197 (57%)
 100–200% federal poverty level 575 (12%) 144 (21%) 201 (22%) 26 (8%) 61 (18%)
 < 100% federal poverty level 429 (9%) 324 (48%) 262 (29%) 15 (5%) 85 (25%)
 Private insurance 4,385 (83%) 382 (35%) 588 (40%) 291 (85%) 237 (55%)
Education
 Less than high school 206 (4%) 207 (18%) 203 (14%) 4 (1%) 65 (15%)
 High school or GED 387 (7%) 286 (25%) 269 (18%) 9 (3%) 58 (13%)
 Some college, associate/technical degree 1,322 (25%) 437 (39%) 609 (41%) 59 (17%) 133 (31%)
 College or higher degree 3,381 (64%) 192 (17%) 391 (27%) 269 (79%) 178 (41%)
 Employed 3,849 (87%) 433 (57%) 698 (64%) 215 (77%) 236 (70%)
 Non-English primary language 4 (0.1%) 0 121 (8%) 3 (1%) 0
Cohen perceived stress
 Low 3,431 (65%) 470 (42%) 751 (52%) 198 (58%) 210 (49%)
 Moderate 1,723 (33%) 559 (50%) 632 (44%) 140 (41%) 200 (46%)
 High 121 (2%) 84 (8%) 66 (5%) 3 (1%) 22 (5%)
Krieger experience of racism
 None 4,508 (87%) 615 (58%) 900 (66%) 174 (52%) 240 (57%)
 Moderate 577 (11%) 264 (25%) 320 (24%) 111 (33%) 125 (29%)
 High 102 (2%) 183 (17%) 141 (10%) 48 (14%) 59 (14%)
Conner–Davidson resilience score 80 ± 11 80 ± 13 78 ± 13 77 ± 11 80 ± 11
Multidimensional scale of perceived social support score 6.3 ± 1.1 5.8 ± 1.4 6.0 ± 1.2 6.3 ± 1.0 6.1 ± 1.2
REALM-SF score 6.9 ± 0.7 6.1 ±1.5 6.0 ± 2.0 6.7 ± 1.2 6.5 ± 1.1
EPDS score 5.4 ± 4.0 6.6 ± 4.8 6.3 ± 4.5 5.7 ± 3.8 6.0 ± 4.2
Parents with a history of diabetes 880 (17%) 237 (23%) 331 (25%) 92 (29%) 103 (25%)
Behavioral characteristics
 Planned pregnancy 3,747 (71%) 274 (24%) 635 (43%) 267 (78%) 195 (45%)
 Prepregnancy counseling about gestational weight gain 2,054 (39%) 266 (24%) 492 (33%) 132 (39%) 110 (25%)
 Physical activity 4,081 (77%) 654 (58%) 800 (55%) 243 (71%) 312 (72%)
 Tobacco use 324 (6%) 98 (9%) 37 (3%) 1 (0.3%) 42 (10%)
Daily glycemic load (g) 90 ± 44 145 ± 101 104 ± 61 79 ± 46 109 ± 68
Daily glycemic index 49 ± 4 52 ± 3 50 ± 4 49 ± 3 50 ± 3
Total daily calories (kcal) 1,497 (1,182, 1,882) 1,965 (1,309, 2,845) 1,558 (1,138, 2,096) 1,308 (1,008, 1,698) 1,564 (1,180, 2,093)
Total daily carbohydrates (g) 184 (143, 235) 250 (158, 376) 197 (143, 274) 160 (114, 201) 204 (147, 267)
Total daily protein (g) 56 (43, 72) 63 (43, 96) 56 (40, 78) 48 (36, 66) 53 (40, 75)
Total daily fat (g) 57 (43, 74) 74 (51, 113) 58 (41, 81) 54 (41, 70) 61 (43, 82)
Total daily fiber (g) 15 (11, 20) 14 (9, 20) 13 (9, 19) 13 (9, 18) 14 (9, 20)
% calories from carbohydrates 50 ± 7 51 ± 8 51 ± 8 48 ± 7 51 ± 7
% calories from protein 15 ± 3 14 ± 3 15 ± 3 15 ± 3 14 ± 3
% calories from fat 34 ± 6 35 ± 6 34 ± 6 37 ± 6 34 ± 6
Healthy Eating Index 2010 65 ± 12 54 ± 11 61 ± 12 69 ± 10 60 ± 14
Medical characteristics
 Maternal age (y) 28 ± 5 23 ± 5 25 ± 5 31 ± 5 26 ± 6
 Body mass index (kg/m2) 24 (22, 28) 27 (22, 34) 25 (22, 29) 22 (21, 25) 25 (22, 31)
 Waist circumference (cm) 79 (74, 88) 84 (75, 97) 82 (75, 91) 75 (70, 81) 81 (73, 92)
 Chronic hypertension 104 (2%) 50 (4%) 28 (2%) 3 (1%) 13 (3%)
 Asthma 635 (13%) 205 (20%) 171 (14%) 23 (7%) 69 (17%)
 Polycystic ovarian syndrome 172 (3%) 16 (1%) 47 (3%) 14 (4%) 9 (2%)

Abbreviation: GED, general educational development.

Notes: Data presented as n (%), mean ± standard deviation, or median (interquartile range), as appropriate.

p < 0.001 for all except PCOS (p < 0.01).

Cohen Perceived Stress: 10-question survey using 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 to 4 with total scores ranging from 0 to 13 considered low stress, 14 to 26 moderate stress, and 27 to 40 high stress.23

Krieger Experience of Racism: 9-item self-report about lifetime experiences of discrimination attributed to race, ethnicity, or skin color with moderately defined as an affirmative answer to one or two experiences and high as an affirmative answer to three or more experiences of racism.24

Conner–Davidson Resilience: 25-item questionnaire using a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 4 for a maximum score of 100 with higher scores representing higher resilience.25

The multidimensional scale of perceived support: 12-question survey using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 7 with total score calculated as mean score across all questions with higher scores representing higher levels of support.26

REALM-SF: 7-item word recognition test with a score of 0 representing third-grade literacy and below with inability to read most low-literacy materials and needing repeated oral instructions, 1 to 3 representing 4th to 6th-grade literacy needing low-literacy materials and not able to read prescription labels, 4 to 6 representing 7th to 8th-grade literacy with some struggle to read most patient education materials but will not be offended by low literacy materials, and 7 representing high school or more, able to read most education materials.27