Perceived stress and its psychological correlates in pregnant women: an Indian study

ABSTRACT This study aimed at evaluation of perceived stress, anxiety, depression and coping among pregnant women. Perceived Stress Scale-14 (PSS), Pregnancy Related Anxiety Scale (PRAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Brief COPE inventory were administered to 110 ante-natal mothers. Nearly one third (30.9%) reported significant stress and 20.9% had pregnancy related anxiety. Depression was found in 7.3%, and 47.3% and 23.6% of participants reported significant trait and state anxiety respectively. An expectation of a male child by the participant’s family (p = 0.003), worries of giving birth to a female child (p = 0.037) and practicing Hinduism were associated with significant stress. Antenatal mothers who perceived high stress on PSS-14 significantly differed on reporting of child related anxiety on the PRAS (p < 0.001), state anxiety (p = 0.046), trait anxiety (p < 0.01) and total scores on STAI (p < 0.01). Emotional focused and avoidance oriented coping was more often used by participants who perceived high stress. Correlation analyses showed that total perceived stress scores were positively correlated with trait anxiety (p = 0.011) and total STAI score (p = 0.022). None of the obstetrical factors were associated with perceived stress. It was concluded that a significant proportion of pregnant women perceive stress and pregnancy related anxiety.