Investigating the relationship between personality types and resilience in pregnant women. A cross-sectional study

Background

Childbirth is considered a critical experience in a woman's life when she needs mental adaptation and reorganization of relationships. Factors such as personality and self-perception can help facing and solving crises. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between personality types and stress resilience among pregnant women.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study on 210 multiparous and nulliparous pregnant women who were 32–37 weeks pregnant and referred to Shiraz medical hospitals for delivery selected via convenience sampling. Data collection tools were personal and midwifery information questionnaires and the Goldberg personality and visual pain assessment scale that were completed through interviews. Data analysis was performed by SPSS software using descriptive tests to describe the data and the Pearson correlation test to analyze the data.

Results

The highest personality type was conscientiousness (48.1%) and the lowest was extraversion (2.4%). Maternal resilience had a significant positive relationship with extraversion (p = .001) and conscientiousness (p = .001). There was no significant relationship between the 2 variables of neuroticism and maternal resilience (p = .12). There was a significant positive relationship between the 2 variables of openness to experience and maternal resilience (p = .005).

Conclusion

Women's healthcare providers can help to mitigate the negative effects of psychological distress, and psychologically empower this vulnerable group by considering the resilience and personality type of pregnant women during prenatal care.