Relations between Maternal Anxiety and Obstetric Complications

This study was designed to determine whether obstetrical factors such as complications and labor time are related to maternal anxiety. The IPAT Anxiety Scale and other tests were administered at the beginning of the third trimester. Patients were classified as normal or abnormal by means of pregnancy, deliveryroom, and postpartum records. These groups were comparable with regard to age, intelligence, total pregnancies, and first pregnancies. The abnormal group obtained significantly higher anxiety scores than the normal group; also, obsessive rumination was characteristic of the former, while denial and repression were used by the latter group. Total labor times and birth weights were significantly positively correlated with anxiety, although the groups themselves did not differ on these variables.