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Pregnancy Subsequent to Perinatal Loss: Parental Anxiety and Depression

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Abstract

Twenty-five expectant couples who had experienced a perinatal loss within the previous 2 years were compared with 31 first-time expectant couples using the Trait Scale (A-Trait) of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Pregnancy Outcome Questionnaire (POQ). The POQ was designed for this study to examine the hypothesis that during the subsequent pregnancy, parents with a previous loss would exhibit anxiety that is specific to the pregnancy experience and not of a more generalized nature. The POQ significantly differentiated between the two groups of mothers (p<0.01); the A-Trait and BDI did not. Fathers in the two groups did not differ significantly on the BDI, A-Trait, or the POQ.

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Cited by (99)

  • Re-examining pregnancy-related anxiety: A replication study

    2019, Women and Birth
    Citation Excerpt :

    On this basis, these researchers concluded that women who had previous perinatal loss experienced pregnancy anxiety that was more specific and less generalised than women who had not suffered loss. Following Theut et al.’s18 contribution, Orr et al.19 examined the relationship between pregnancy-related anxiety and depression as part of a broader preterm birth study. To ascertain if pregnancy-related anxiety was independent of depression, Orr et al. subjected measures of both these constructs to a principal components analysis.

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This project was approved by the Institutional Clinical Review- Subpanel of the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development on January 16, 1986.

Presented al the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, October 24, 1987, Washington DC.

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