Longitudinal Associations Between Intrinsic Motivation and Subsequent Postpartum Health Behaviors and Life’s Essential 8: Results of the Pregnancy, Lifestyle and Environment Study-2 (PETALS-2) Cohort
Discuss this preprint
Start a discussion What are Sciety discussions?Listed in
This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.Abstract
Background
Cardiovascular health is affected by health behaviors, but postpartum behavioral influences are not well understood. We examined whether intrinsic motivation (IM) is longitudinally associated with long-term postpartum health behaviors (healthy eating, physical activity, self-weighing) and cardiovascular health ((Life’s Essential 8 [LE8] scores).
Methods
The prospective Pregnancy, Lifestyle and Environment Study-2 (PETALS-2) followed women enrolled in the PETALS study at Kaiser Permanente Northern California during pregnancy ( N =311). Data were collected via validated self-report surveys and objective measurements during pregnancy and 6-24 months postpartum (2017-2021). Health behaviors were dichotomized by sample-specific 75 th percentiles ( P75 ) or pre-specified thresholds (attaining guideline-recommended moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA, ≥150 minutes/week]; self-weighing regularly [≥once/week]). Separate analyses lagged IM by timepoint to assess longitudinal associations between behavior-specific IM and immediate subsequent health behaviors; and between an IM composite and immediate subsequent LE8 scores.
Results
Each one-unit higher IM score was associated with greater likelihood of Healthy Eating Index-2015 scores ≥ P75 at 24 months postpartum (RR=1.42; 95% CI=1.07, 1.88); attaining MVPA guidelines at 6 (1.48; 1.03, 2.12), 12 (1.85; 1.26, 2.71), and 24 months postpartum (1.66; 1.22, 2.27); and regular self-weighing at 6 (1.53; 1.03, 2.27) and 12 months postpartum (1.65; 1.15, 2.36). Each one-unit higher composite IM score was associated with higher LE8 scores at 6, 18, and 24 months postpartum (18-month mean estimate=2.34; 95% CI=0.67, 4.02).
Conclusions
Greater IM was associated with healthier behaviors and cardiovascular health through 24 months postpartum. Future research should test whether interventions targeting IM improve health behaviors and long-term maternal cardiovascular health.
