Are women “afraid” to give birth on Halloween?

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is associated with ghouls, death, witches, zombies, and all sorts of other “negative” images.  Although most Americans enjoy celebrating Halloween, it has a stereotype of being the creepiest and darkest of US holidays.  One might say that Valentine’s Day is the antithesis of Halloween.  Valentine’s Day is associated with love, cupid, flowers, and hearts.  Culturally, we associate specific meanings and feelings to holidays and these cultural stereotypes can actually influence human physical functions.

But how strong are these holiday stereotypes? Are they strong enough to influence physical functions that are generally considered out of our control? Specifically, can these stereotypes influence spontaneous birth? Generally, the timing of spontaneous births – where a woman gives birth vaginally without being induced – are considered to be completely out a woman’s control.  Levy et al. examined these exact questions in the October issue of Social Science and Medicine.  They wondered if cultural views of holidays could impact birth rates in the United States. To answer this questions they looked at the rate of spontaneous, Cesarean section, and induced births on Valentine’s Day, on Halloween, and during the week before and after each holiday.