The relationship between positive psychological qualities and prenatal negative emotion in pregnant women: A path analysis

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between positive psychological qualities and negative emotions of pregnant women.

Methods: We surveyed 774 pregnant women in a tertiary hospital in Urumqi using the following measures: a self-report general demographic data questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7), Patients Health Questionnaire depression scale (PHQ-9), Pregnancy Pressure Scale (stocktickerPPS), Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), and Connor-Davidson Resilience scale (CD-RISC). We used the Amos2.03 system to build a structural equation model.

Results: A total of 774 subjects had an average age of 30 years and an average gestational age of 23 weeks. Among the 774 respondents, 122 (15.8%) had moderate or above pregnancy stress (stocktickerPPS > 1), 376 (48.6%) had mild or above anxiety symptoms (GAD-7 ≥ 5), 456 (58.9%) had mild or above depression symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 5), 740 (95.6%) had moderate or above social support scores (PSSS ≥ 37), and 124 (16.0%) had good or above psychological resilience scores (CD-RISC ≥ 60). Notably, 372 (48.1%) people had a self-efficacy score above the overall average (GSES ≥ 2.6). Pregnancy stress had positive correlations with anxiety and depression (β = 0.57, 0.30, P < 0.01) and negative correlations with self-efficacy (β = -0.19, P < 0.01). Anxiety had positive correlations with depression (β = 0.54, P < 0.01) and negative correlations with social support (β = -0.45, P < 0.01). Social support had positive correlations with self-efficacy and resilience (β = 0.37, 0.47, P < 0.01). Resilience had negative correlations with anxiety (β = -0.09, P < 0.01), and self-efficacy had positive correlations with resilience (β = 0.41, P < 0.01).

Conclusion: Identification of pregnancy stress should be emphasized in pregnant women with negative emotions. Efforts to strengthen the positive psychological qualities of pregnant women should focus on cultivating psychological resilience to reduce the occurrence of anxiety, and improving social support should be a priority because it can enhance psychological resilience and self-efficacy. We provide a reason to intervene in the negative emotions of pregnant women from the perspective of the positive psychology of pregnant women.

Keywords: path analysis; positive psychological quality; pregnant women; prenatal anxiety; prenatal depression.