Personal Characteristics of Pregnant Women and Their Relationship to the Fetus: Age Analysis

DOI: 10.5176/2251-1865_CBP14.32

Authors: Svetlana S. Savenysheva, and Olga U. Strizhitskaya

Abstract:

The aim of our study was to investigate the role of the pregnant women personality characteristics in relation to pregnancy and the fetus with the age of the women. Research hypothesiswas that relation to pregnancy and fetus in different age periods is determined by various personal characteristics. Participants were 120 pregnant women living in St. Petersburg (Russia), aged 18 to 40 years, with a variety of educational and marital status. We conducted a comparative analysis for two groups of pregnant women: aged 18-25 and 26-40 years. Analysis of the correlation of personal characteristics and attitudes toward pregnancy and the fetus confirmed our hypothesis that different age groups related to the pregnancy and the fetus caused by different personal characteristics. In early adulthood period attitude to pregnancy and fetus to a greater extent is provided by personal characteristics (and to the greatest extent they determine the anxious type ), while in the group of pregnant women during the middle adulthood attitude to pregnancy and fetus to a greater extent related to sharpening of particular traits.

Keywords: pregnancy, personality traits, prenatal anxiety, fetus, maternal-fetal attachment, relationship to fetus.