Correlates for state and trait anxiety in a multicultural sample of Turkish and Spanish women at first trimester of pregnancy

Abstract

Objective: The main objective of this research was to assess the potential influence of cultural factors on the anxiety levels of a multicultural sample of Spanish and Turkish pregnant women at the beginning of the pregnancy.

Methods: Between October and December 2017 a total of 250 Turkish and 264 Spanish pregnant women attending their first pregnancy medical check-up between 10 and 12 weeks of pregnancy in three different cities, Istanbul, Antalya and Malaga, were recruited for study. These women completed a questionnaire that included the Turkish or Spanish validated of the state-trait anxiety Inventory, and a series of questions related to health status, general mood, and sociodemographic variables.

Results: The mean value for State Anxiety was 47.1 [16-56] (SD 4.2), and mild, moderate and severe State Anxiety was observed in 56.8%, 14.7% and 20.5% of participants, respectively. Mean value for trait anxiety was 46.9 [34-89] (SD 4.6) and 31.4%, 19.7% and 20.2% of participants scored for mild, moderate and severe anxiety respectively. Anxiety scores were significantly higher among Turkish women. In the whole sample, religion, working status, pregnancy planning and perceived partner´s support predicted anxiety at first trimester of pregnancy. Social support and educational level were the most important predictive variables in the Spanish subgroup, while religion, the number of living children and the lack of husband´s support were among Turkish pregnant women.

Conclusion: Our results confirm the existence of a high prevalence of women´s anxiety at the beginning of the pregnancy and some differences between Turkish and Spanish pregnant women have been observed. We have confirmed that some cultural features like family structure (having more children and cohabitants), the Islamic religion or the lack of perceived partner´s support became the most important vulnerability elements.

Keywords: Anxiety; Cultural factors; Mood disorders; Perinatal anxiety; Sate and trait anxiety.