Posttraumatic stress symptoms in sexual minority and majority women after difficult births: a cross-sectional study

Although giving birth is often a positive experience, some individuals may perceive it as traumatic, and may develop birth-related post-traumatic stress disorder (BR-PTSD). Sexual minority women, who may face minority stress during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, could be at an increased risk for BR-PTSD.

To compare BR-PTSD symptoms between sexual minority and heterosexual women, following births that involved complications or were self-perceived as difficult experiences.

An explorative, small-scale cross-sectional survey was used to explore post-traumatic stress symptoms in a sample (n = 339) of sexual minority (e.g. lesbian, bisexual, and queer) and majority (i.e. heterosexual) women who had experienced birth complications and/or perceived birth as a difficult experience. The survey included socio-demographic questions, questions about the birth, and Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R) to measure posttraumatic stress symptoms.

More stress symptoms (p = 0.043) were reported by sexual minority women (n = 31; 9.3%, IES-R median 18) compared to heterosexual women (n = 302; 89.1%, IES-R median 11.5). No significant difference in symptoms were found in relation to participants' age, level of education, household income, origin, civil status, or parity. The findings are discussed in relation to minority stress theory.

An accumulation of stress resulting from both traumatic birth experience and minority stress may explain the higher levels of BR-PTSD symptoms in sexual minority participants. However, this is a small-scale study where results must be interpreted with caution.