Distress in Pregnant Women

Abstract

Pregnancy is the most important stage in a woman's life, accompanied by the need to adapt not only at the physiological, but also psychological level. In this study, pregnancy is considered as a macro stress event that carries a certain stress load with different outcomes. The study reveals the specifics of distress at women in the dynamics: during pregnancy and after childbirth. Data was collected in antenatal clinic No.33 of the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. The total of 86 women were enrolled, aged 18 to 43 years (M=29.47). The normal course of pregnancy was observed in 84 women. The methods based on transactional theory of stress were used for realization of scientific tasks. When analyzing the data obtained in the study, standard mathematical statistics methods were used using the computer programs "Excel" and "R Studio". It was found that a pregnancy of modern women is accompanied by lasting distress. Not only personal but also environmental factors take part in distress formation. Results testify statistically significant higher level of distress during pregnancy in contrast to a period after childbirth. Correlation analysis showed that the level of perceived stress correlates at a high significance level with each scale of the symptomatic questionnaire. Perceived stress is also associated with the coping strategy "Avoidance" and with the personality trait "Emotional stability", with an inverse correlation. The identification of psychological factors of distress during pregnancy indicates the need for psychological interventions to accompany pregnancy. The study is supported by the RFBR grant № 19-013-00417a.