Types, patterns, and predictors of coping with stress during pregnancy: Examination of the Revised Prenatal Coping Inventory in a diverse sample

Abstract

The present study investigated coping in early, mid-, and late pregnancy in 321 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse women of varying medical risk. The goal was to determine how women cope with stress across pregnancy and to explore the association of coping with maternal characteristics, stress perceptions, disposition, and social support. Factor analysis of the Revised Prenatal Coping Inventory revealed three distinct types of coping: Planning-Preparation, Avoidance, and Spiritual-Positive Coping. Spiritual coping was used most frequently during pregnancy; avoidant coping was used least often. As hypothesized, use of spiritual coping and avoidance differed across pregnancy. Planning was used more consistently across time. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that the strongest predictors of planning were high optimism and pregnancy-specific distress. Avoidance was most strongly predicted by high state anxiety and pregnancy-specific distress. Greater religiosity and optimism were the strongest predictors of spiritual coping. These results add to a body of evidence that women use distinctive and varied strategies to manage stress prenatally. They also suggest that coping is responsive to changing demands across pregnancy and reflective of women's characteristics, perceptions, and social situations.

The Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Revised Prenatal Coping Inventory (Nu-PCI)

“…Hamilton JG and Lobel M (2008) added new items to the original PCI and developed a 42-item measure. In the Nu-PCI, respondents report how often they used different coping mechanisms in the past month on a range from 0 to 4 (0, never; 1, almost never; 2, sometimes; 3, fairly often; 4, very often).…”

“…Additionally, the Persian Nu-PCI domains indicated the ability to correlate with the WCQ domains, indicating a satisfactory convergent validity of the instrument. As with Yali AM and Lobel M (2002) and Hamilton JG and Lobel M (2008), strong correlations in the domain scores of the Nu-PCI showed a sufficient concurrent validity [22,24]. The WCQ, a similar instrument that is widely used in psychological research, showed a valid scale of coping strategies [27,28], and there were acceptable reliability coefficients and correlations with related constructs in items of the questionnaire [12,23,24].…”

Knowledge, attitudes and decision-making in Czech women with atypical results of prenatal screening tests for the most common chromosomal and morphological congenital defects in the fetus: Selected questionnaire results

“…The majority of studies point to inadequate awareness of women who are offered individual methods of screening [1][2][3][4][5] . These authors concentrated particularly on stress, coping strategies and provision of support for pregnant women in connection with invasive screening tests [6][7][8][9][10] . More studies are discussed below.…”

Benson's Relaxation Therapy: Its effect on Stress and Coping among Mothers with High Risk Pregnancy

“…Avoid: Women can discard physical changes during pregnancy and try to hide their feelings about pregnancy. [11,12] A Proper coping mechanism for stress is essential for pregnant women to protect maternal and fetal health.…”