Abstract
Previous studies have suggested that certain personality characteristics are associated with emotional distress during pregnancy. However, the underlying mechanism of this association is rarely understood. The current study investigated the links between personality and pregnant women's emotional distress (depressive and anxiety symptoms), tested the chain mediating effects of two resilience factors—social support and positive coping, and explored whether socioeconomic status (SES) could moderate the effects (including direct and/or indirect effects) of personality on their emotional distress. Results of a relatively large sample of pregnant women in China (N = 1157) showed positive associations for psychoticism and neuroticism with depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as negative associations for extraversion with depression and anxiety. After controlling for four important variables (the first pregnancy or not, having adverse pregnancy experience or not, being pregnant as planned or not, and number of weeks of pregnancy), social support and positive coping acted as chain mediators on the associations of personality with depressive symptoms as well as of personality with anxiety. Overall, the association of personality and depressive symptoms demonstrated invariance across socioeconomic status (SES). However, SES moderated the relationship between personality and anxiety. Specifically, the negative association of positive coping with anxiety symptoms was weaker for low SES women than for high SES ones. Results highlight the importance of social support and positive coping to decrease personality-related depressive and anxiety symptom among pregnant women. Furthermore, identifying other resilience factors that alleviate anxiety in women with low SES is urgently called for.
Highlights
Emotional distress, including the symptoms of depression and anxiety, is very common among pregnant women
In line with the relationship hypothesis (H1), the present study indicated that personality characteristics correlated moderately or mildly with depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese pregnant women
Consistent with the mediating hypothesis (H2), after controlling for four important variables, social support and positive coping acted as chain mediators on the link between personality and depressive symptoms as well as between personality and anxiety
Summary
Emotional distress, including the symptoms of depression and anxiety, is very common among pregnant women. It is estimated that depression symptoms affect ∼25% of pregnant women [1] and that anxiety symptoms affect 18.2–24.6% of them [N = 221,974; [2]]. The ratio of depressive and anxiety symptoms in the third gestational trimester has been reported to Personality, Emotional Distress, and Resilience be as high as 73.5% and 58.5%, respectively [4]. In China, prevalence rates of 15.04–22.57% for anxiety and 10.3–35.7% for depression have been reported [5, 6]. Given the prolonged and adverse effects of emotional distress among pregnant women, it is urgently needed to investigate the associated factors and the underlying mechanisms to help clarify potential intervention objectives to prevent or decrease anxiety and depressive symptoms during pregnancy
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