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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Wendy L. Hellerstedt, MPH, PhD, Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, 1300 S 2nd St., Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, 612-626-2077, hellerstedt@epi.umn.edu and Marjorie R. Sable, DrPH, MSW, School of Social Work, University of Missouri-Columbia, 726 Clark Hall, Columbia, MO 65211.

Background: Pregnancy ambivalence may be common but it is unclear if women who report both positive and negative feelings about a pregnancy are at higher perinatal risk than women with less conflicted feelings. Methods: The study involved 1,538 women from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth who were older than 17 years and had a singleton livebirth in the past 5 years. Women responded to questions about their last pregnancy: satisfaction with pregnancy timing/intention, pregnancy happiness, pregnancy wantedness, and whether attempts were made to avoid the pregnancy. In multivariable logistic regression analyses, the perinatal behaviors (early prenatal care, breastfeeding, prenatal smoking) of women who consistently reported negative feelings and of women with ambivalent feelings were compared with those who consistently reported positive pregnancy feelings. Results: Forty-six percent reported ambivalent feelings, 36% were consistently positive, and 18% were consistently negative. Compared with women with positive feelings, those who consistently reported negative feelings were more likely to have initiated prenatal care after 8 weeks (OR=1.7; 95% CI=1.1, 3.0) and to have smoked during pregnancy (OR=3.2; 95% CI=1.6, 6.5). The individual variables about feelings were not strongly associated with outcomes in separate analyses. Conclusions: While retrospective recall of pregnancy feeling should be interpreted cautiously, these analyses do not support that pregnancy ambivalence is associated with select perinatal behaviors. The data suggest that women with negative pregnancy feelings may be at risk for pregnancy risk behaviors and that a series of questions—rather than a single question—may better identify the highest risk women.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session participants will be able to
• Define pregnancy ambivalence
• Evaluate the utility of retrospective measurement of pregnancy feelings for surveillance

Keywords: Pregnancy, Reproductive Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation