Psychosomatic Medicine 27:31-38 (1965)
© 1965 American Psychosomatic Society

Relations Between Self and Parental Perceptions of Unwed Mothers and Obstetric Complications

¹ Medical College of South Carolina Charleston, S. C., Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo; Department of Psychiatry, Emory University Medical School, Atlanta, Ga
² Medical College of South Carolina, Charleston, S. C., Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo

The study was designed to determine whether there are differences in self-concepts, descriptions of parents, or perceived similarity with parents prior to or after delivery between women with obstetric complications and those with uneventful parturitions. Patients were classified as abnormal if there were disorders during gestation, developmental abnormalities in the neonate, or delivery irregularities. The Interpersonal Check List was administered to 177 white single females (89 normal, 88 abnormal by clinical criteria) at the seventh month of gestation and 2 weeks postpartum. No reliable differences were found between the groups' ratings of self, parents, or perceived similarities between self and parents either pre- or postdelivery. There were, however, significant differences between the groups with regard to the changes that occurred. The most striking finding was the abnormal group's tendency to endorse fewer items, especially extreme-intensity items. This result was interpreted as a response set and was related to previous research on sets as well as other findings on patients with obstetric complications.