Assessment of the Relationship between Personality traits, Coping styles with Stress and Stress level in Pregnant Women

High levels of stress during pregnancy are clearly associated with several negative health consequences for offspring and mother. Hence, there appears to be a demand for studies taking into consideration factors which might play an effective role in protecting the pregnant woman and her unborn child against harmful consequences of heightened stress levels. This study was done in order to investigate the relationship between personality traits, coping styles with stress and stress level in pregnant women. This correlation study was done on 80 pregnant women who referred to Isfahan Shahid Beheshti Hospital in the year 2009. They completed NEO Personality Inventory, Endler and Parker Coping Inventory, Cooper Stress Questionnaire and demographic characteristics by self-report. Data were analyzed by utilizing correlation and regression analysis with SPSS software 16th version. Findings demonstrated that stress in pregnant women was related to neuroticism (r =0.607), extraversion (r = -0.460), agreeableness (r = - 0.492), conscientiousness (r = - 0.429), problem-focused coping (r = - 0.403) and emotion-focused coping (r = 0.467) (p<0.01). Neuroticism, emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping and agreeableness predicted 55 percent of stress levels in pregnant women (R2=0.547, p=0.00). In addition, personality traits statistically were related to coping styles. (p<0.01 p<0.05 respectively). BotAccording to this study, personality traits and coping styles had relationship with stress level in pregnant women. Moreover, the majority of stress level is predictable by personality traits and coping styles in pregnant women. Therefore stress management training, education and psychotherapy for mothers may be essential.