INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF DIFFICULTY IN EMOTION REGULATION, PERCEIVED STRESS, PREGNANCY ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN PREGNANT WOMEN'S MIND

Pregnancy is one of the most sensitive periods in a women's life, which will be accompanied by changes due to psychological changes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of difficulty in regulating emotions, perceived stress, anxiety, and depression in the minds of pregnant women.

The population consisted of women referred to the gynecology clinics in Khorramabad city and the sample consisted of 100 women who were selected as available. Data were collected using Brown and Ryan Mindfulness Questionnaire, Cohen's and colleagues' Perceived Stress Questionnaire, Gratz and Romer's Difficulty Questionnaire, Wendenberg and Edinburgh Pregnancy Anxiety Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and stepwise regression analysis by SPSS-21 software.

Findings indicated that there was a significant negative correlation between mindfulness and difficulty in emotion regulation, perceived stress, anxiety, and depression. In the first step, the difficulty in adjusting the emotion alone predicted 0.62 of the changes in mindfulness. In the second step, with the addition of the pregnancy anxiety variable it reached 0.65. In the third step, the perceived stress increased to 0.67. Thus, difficult components in emotion regulation, pregnancy anxiety, and perceived stress have a significant role in predicting changes in pregnant women's mindfulness.

Considering the high level of stress, anxiety, and depression among pregnant women and their low level of excitement, counseling-based therapies can help reduce the problems in the society.