Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 27;21(1):168.
doi: 10.1186/s12884-021-03644-5.

Partner's emotional reaction to pregnancy mediates the relationship between pregnancy planning and prenatal mental health

Ashraf Kazemi  1 , Maryam Ghaedrahmati  2 , Gholamreza Kheirabadi  3
Affiliations

Partner's emotional reaction to pregnancy mediates the relationship between pregnancy planning and prenatal mental health

Ashraf Kazemi et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Background: An unplanned pregnancy may be followed by increased depression and anxiety. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the mediating role of partner's emotional reaction to pregnancy (PERP) on the relationship between pregnancy planning and prenatal mental health.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 303 healthy Iranian pregnant women during their third trimester. The levels of depression and anxiety were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The PERP score was also measured using a researcher-made questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the plug-in application PROCESS macro.

Results: The results showed that PERP score was reversely related to pregnancy planning and prenatal depression and anxiety. The direct effect of the pregnancy planning on depression (c = -.05) and anxiety levels (c = -.02) were not significant; but the indirect effect of pregnancy planning on depression (Point Estimate = -.379, CI: -.523 to -.250) and anxiety levels (Point Estimate = -.560, CI: -.741 to -.385) with the mediating role of PERP were significant.

Conclusions: The results indicated that the effect of pregnancy planning on prenatal mental health is mediated by PERP, and in unplanned pregnancy women need to receive positive reaction of their partners toward pregnancy so that they can preserve their mental health.

Keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Emotional reaction; Mental health; Partner; Pregnancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mediation by partner’s reaction and its subscales to pregnancy of the association between pregnancy planning and depression (a, b, c) and anxiety (d, e, f). Abbreviations: c: standardized total effect; c’: standardized direct effect. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Anderson FM, Hatch SL, Comacchio C, Howard LM. Prevalence and risk of mental disorders in the perinatal period among migrant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2017;20(3):449–462. doi: 10.1007/s00737-017-0723-z. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Karmaliani R, Asad N, Bann CM, Moss N, Mcclure EM, Pasha O, Wright LL, Goldenberg RL. Prevalence of anxiety, depression and associated factors among pregnant women of Hyderabad, Pakistan. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2009;55(5):414–424. doi: 10.1177/0020764008094645. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Glover V. Prenatal stress and its effects on the fetus and the child: possible underlying biological mechanisms. Adv Neurobiol. 2015;52(4):269–283. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-1372-5_13. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Padmapriya N, Bernard JY, Liang S, Loy SL, Shen Z, Kwek K, Godfrey KM, Gluckman PD, Chong YS, Saw SM, Meaney MJ, Chen H, Muller-Riemenschneider F, GUSTO study group Association of physical activity and sedentary behavior with depression and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy in a multiethnic cohort of Asian women. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2016;19(6):1119–1128. doi: 10.1007/s00737-016-0664-y. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Orsolini L, Valchera A, Vecchiotti R, Tomasetti C, Iasevoli F, Fornaro M, et al. Suicide during perinatal period: epidemiology, risk factors, and clinical correlates. Front Psychiatry. 2016;7:138. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00138. - DOI - PMC - PubMed