The Relationship of Personality Traits on the Levels of Anxiety and Depression During Pregnancy

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship of personality traits on the levels of anxiety and depression during pregnancy. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 205 pregnant women over the age of 18 who attended the pregnancy outpatient clinic for pregnancy follow-up between June and September. The data were collected by means of the “Socio-demographic Data Form,” “Cervantes Personality Scale (CPS),” and “Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).” The mean age of the participants was found to be 30.73±5.66 years. Scores obtained by pregnant women's on the CPS was 12.56±6.45 for the subdimension of extraversion/introversion, 16.61±8.03 for the sub-dimension of emotional stability/neuroticism, and 21.63±5.10 for the sub-dimension of sincerely/insincerely. Scores obtained by pregnant women's on the HADS was 7.35±4.42 for the sub-dimension of anxiety, and 5.89±4.26 for the sub-dimension of depression. It was found that 21.4% of the pregnant women had high levels of anxiety, and 14.1% of them had high levels of depression. It was found that there was a significant relationship between sub-dimension anxiety and extraversion/introversion, and emotional stability/neuroticism. It was found that there was a significant relationship between sub-dimension depression and extraversion/introversion and emotional stability/neuroticism. As a result of this study, it was concluded that there is a relationship between personality traits and anxiety and depression levels in pregnant women. In addition, it was found that pregnant women with the personality traits of introversion and neuroticism were more prone to anxiety and depression.