Journal
JOURNAL OF PSYCHOSOMATIC OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY
Volume 36, Issue 3, Pages 94-102Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.3109/0167482X.2015.1034269
Keywords
Infancy; maternal stress; motherhood; parenting; postpartum distress; pregnancy
Funding
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [R01 HD027592]
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Introduction: The maternal experience of having a young infant is often viewed through a negative lens focused on psychological distress due, in part, to a historical focus on identifying threats to prenatal, perinatal and postpartum well-being of women and infants. This report examines maternal appraisal of both positive and negative experiences during and after pregnancy and introduces a new scale that assesses both uplifts and hassles that are specific to early motherhood. Methods: The sample included 136 women who began study participation during pregnancy and completed an existing scale designed to evaluate pregnancy-specific hassles and uplifts. When infants were 6 months old, participants completed the newly developed Maternal Experience Scale (MES) along with questionnaires related to anxiety, depression, attachment, parenting stress and infant temperament characteristics. Results: In general, women with 6-month-old infants rated their maternal experiences far more positively than negatively. MES hassles and uplift scores reflected both convergent and discriminant validity with general measures of psychological well-being and parent-specific measures. Appraisal of the pregnancy experience significantly predicted appraisal of early motherhood for hassles, uplifts and a composite score reflecting emotional valence. Women became relatively more uplifted and less hassled from pregnancy to 6-month postpartum; this was particularly true for multiparous women. Discussion: The maternal perception of motherhood corresponds to her perception of pregnancy. The MES provides a balanced view of motherhood by including maternal appraisal of the uplifting aspects of caring for an infant.
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