Examining Reproductive Experiences - Essay Example

Results, that Mulling et al (85) consider as being indicative of their method of research, and which would likely to have been different within a more traditional epidemiological study, indicate that different social structures in terms of class and profession (i.e. head of household), in other words pre-existing causal links to stress, impact on the degree of chronic stress evident. Furthermore, the results show that the pre-existing links to stress initiate from concerns to do with housing, health care, social support, and economics, as well as their general living environment.

Mulling et al (90) further purports that pregnancy serves as a mechanism to increase those stress levels even further.The study also reveals that the kind of support these women receive from social support networks differs in relation to their social class; for example, the causes of stress differ between low and middle-income women.This study adopts an intersectional approach to the research by considering gender and racial inequalities of African American women in Harlem, as stemming from other social categories such as class, and showing how it affects those women in different ways.