The level of happiness in pregnancy and its related factors in pregnant women of Mashhad city in 2013

Happiness is one of the mental health criteria which is defined as the individuals'' judgment from life desirability. Pregnancy is an experience which causes several physical and psychosocial changes، but can be as the manifests of self-actualization feeling and stabilization of feminine identity، and can increase happiness. This study was performed with aim to determine level of happiness and its related factors during pregnancy. This correlation study was performed on 300 pregnant women who had referred to Mashhad health-medical centers for receiving pregnancy care. They completed the questionnaire of demographic and social characteristics، medical-midwifery history، lifestyle، Oxford happiness and demographic characteristics of NEO-FFI. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 16) and using Kruskal Wallis، Mann Whitney، Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficient. Frequency of how level of happiness was 11. 3%، moderate level 72. 5% and high level 16. 2%. Happiness was significantly related to job status (P<0. 01)، exercise (P<0. 001)، recreation (P<0. 05)، duration of religious affords (P<0. 001)، neurosis (P<0. 001) and extroversity (P<0. 001). Considering the importance of positive emotions such as happiness in mental health and its relation with various factors، it is recommended to plan for promoting its related factors during pregnancy.