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Psychosocial adjustment during pregnancy: the experience of mature gravidas
1University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
Objective:
To determine if gravidas ages 35 years and older have greater conflict in adapting to pregnancy than do younger gravidas.
Design:
Static group comparison.
Setting:
Prenatal care facilities and prenatal education classes.
Participants:
Sixty-four older gravidas (35 years and older) and 46 younger gravidas (32 years and younger) who were in their 3rd trimester of pregnancy.
Main Outcome Measure:
Lederman Prenatal Self-Evaluation Questionnaire II, which contains seven scales measuring conflict in psychosocial tasks during pregnancy.
Results:
Older gravidas had significantly less fear of helplessness and loss of control in labor than did younger gravidas. Age and education but not parity may account for this finding.
Conclusions:
Age and education may balance the additional concerns older gravidas may have about pregnancy and allow older gravidas to adjust to pregnancy as well as younger women do.