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Updated: Jul 4, 2025

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The experience of bearing a child: implications on body boundaries and their link to preterm birth

Nina Spaegele1, Julia Ditzer2,3, Mariana Rodrigues1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
|February 5, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Disturbed body boundaries in pregnant women are linked to preterm birth. This study found that a woman's sense of body boundaries significantly predicts early delivery, highlighting a new area for research and clinical attention.

Area of Science:

  • Perinatal health
  • Psychological science
  • Maternal-fetal medicine

Background:

  • Preterm birth is a leading cause of infant mortality, with complex and not fully understood causes.
  • The concept of body boundaries, representing the self's separation from the external world, is gaining attention during the transition to motherhood.
  • Understanding factors influencing preterm birth is crucial for public health initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between women's sense of body boundaries and the occurrence of preterm birth.
  • To determine if well-defined versus disturbed body boundaries predict delivery timing.
  • To explore a novel psychological construct in the context of preterm birth prediction.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 655 pregnant Israeli women completed the Sense of Body Boundaries Survey (BBS) pre- and postnatally.
  • General Linear Models (GLM) were employed to analyze the data.
  • The analysis controlled for parity (whether it was the woman's first child).

Main Results:

  • The BBS total score demonstrated a significant predictive effect on the number of days preterm birth occurred before the due date (p < .001).
  • Results indicate that the sense of body boundaries is a significant factor in predicting delivery timing.
  • A statistically significant relationship was found between body boundary measures and preterm delivery.

Conclusions:

  • The study establishes a link between disturbed body boundaries and preterm birth, identifying a novel risk factor.
  • Findings reveal significant heterogeneity in women's body boundary experiences during pregnancy.
  • Potential mediating mechanisms, such as psychosocial stress, and clinical implications warrant further investigation.
Abstract

Keywords:
Body boundariesBody perceptionChildbirthPregnancyPreterm birth

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