Pregnancy-Related Anxiety and Associated Coping Styles and Strategies: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy-related anxiety is a distinct psychological construct during pregnancy, requiring adequate coping behavior. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was performed among 420 pregnant Dutch-speaking women in Belgium to establish the prevalence rate of pregnancy-related anxiety and to explore its associated coping styles and strategies. Pregnancy-related anxiety was measured with the Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire-Revised (PRAQ-R2) and coping was measured with the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced. FINDINGS: Based on PRAQ-R2 score >= 90th percentile, the pregnancy-related anxiety prevalence rate was 13.3%. Women with heightened scores significantly more often had a (family) history of psychological problems (p = .027, p = .013), were significantly more often nulliparous women (p < .000), had a fear of birth (p = .041), felt ill-prepared for birth and parenthood (p < .000), and significantly more often reported to have received insufficient emotional (p = .002) and practical support (p < .000) during pregnancy. The coping style "avoidance" showed a significant positive association with pregnancy-related anxiety (p < .000), while "positive thinking" showed a significant negative association (p = .054). The coping strategies "self-blame," "substance use," and "self-distraction" showed a significant positive association with pregnancy-related anxiety (p < .001, p = .011, p = .003). CONCLUSION: Flemish women show overall maladaptive styles and strategies in coping with pregnancy-related anxiety, of which self-blame seems to be a newfound strategy, requiring attention. Health care practitioners might benefit when being aware of the predisposing factors of pregnancy related anxiety and women's (mal)adaptive coping styles and strategies to better understand and adequately support these women.