Childbirth as an anticipated trauma during pregnancy: pretraumatic stress symptoms in primiparous women.

POST-traumatic stress disorder; PEARSON correlation (Statistics); STATISTICAL correlation; T-test (Statistics); STATISTICAL significance; MULTIPLE regression analysis; QUESTIONNAIRES; PREGNANT women; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; PRENATAL care; PSYCHOLOGICAL stress; RESEARCH; ANALYSIS of variance; PREGNANCY complications; SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC factors; DATA analysis software; CHILDBIRTH; PREGNANCY

Women can develop anticipated traumatic reactions related to the forthcoming delivery through "pretraumatic stress" symptoms. The present study aims at: a) exploring the frequency of probable pretraumatic stress disorder in primiparous pregnant women, b) evidencing associated features of pretraumatic stress symptoms and c) exploring which specific components of antenatal anxiety are associated with pretraumatic stress symptoms. A sample of 100 primiparous pregnant women completed an online questionnaire assessing pretraumatic stress, fear of childbirth, depressive and anxiety symptoms. Socio-demographic and pregnancy-related data were also gathered. 8 % of women met all criteria for probable pretraumatic stress disorder. Increased depressive symptoms (ß = 0.48, p<.05), childbirth concerns (ß = 0.47, p<.05) and worry about self (ß = 0.74; p<.05) were associated with the intensity of pretraumatic stress disorder symptoms. This study contributes to the very limited literature on pretraumatic stress symptoms. Thus, it is noteworthy that pretraumatic stress is not a reactivation of a former postpartum PTSD or associated with a prior negative experience of childbirth. Future studies conducted on primiparous women with no history of traumatic exposure could allow to provide additional evidences of the existence of anticipated traumatic reactions of childbirth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Reproductive & Infant Psychology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)