Psychosomatic Medicine 28:34-49 (1966)
© 1966 American Psychosomatic Society

The Relationship of Emotional Adjustment and Attitudes to the Course and Outcome of Pregnancy

¹ Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, New York, N.Y.

This study was directed to the following goals: (1) To develop measures for adequately assessing the emotional adjustment and attitudes of pregnant women, which could be used in large-scale research; and (2) To determine, on a sizable pretest group, the relationship of emotional adjustment and attitudes, as measured early in pregnancy, to: (a) the mother's emotional adjustment in late pregnancy, labor, and the puerperium, and her attitudes and behavior toward the baby during the early puerperium; (b) the mother's physical condition during pregnancy, labor, and the puerperium; and (c) the newborn baby's physical condition. To this end 124 normal pregnant women, were studied, 105 throughout the entire maternity cycle. The H.I.P. Pregnancy Questionnaire and a series of rating scales were developed. Some degree of relationship was found between early emotional and attitudinal characteristics and emotional adjustment later in the maternity cycle, but there was none between these characteristics and the physical condition of either mother or child.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. L. Alpert Theoretical Perspectives on The Family Life Cycle The Counseling Psychologist, December 1, 1981; 9(4): 25 - 34.

				D. B. Carlson and R. C. Labarba Maternal Emotionality During Pregnancy and Reproductive Outcome: A Review of the Literature International Journal of Behavioral Development, December 1, 1979; 2(4): 343 - 376. [Abstract] [PDF]