Abstract
Background: Experiencing high levels of stress during pregnancy can impair maternal well-being and fetal development. Consequently, unbiased assessment of maternal psychological state is crucial. Self-report measures are vulnerable to social desirability effects. Thus, implicit measures, such as word choice analysis, may offer an alternative.Methods: In this longitudinal online-study, 427 pregnant women described their emotional experiences in writing and additionally responded to self-report questionnaires assessing symptoms of prenatal stress and depression. The written texts were analyzed with a computerized text analysis program. After birth, 253 women provided information on birth outcome.Results: Word use differed significantly depending on maternal socioeconomic (e.g., marital status) and pregnancy-related characteristics (e.g., parity). Prenatal stress and depressive symptoms were associated with more frequent use of negative emotion words and words of anxiety, as well as with less first-person plural, but not singular pronoun use. Negative emotion and cognitive mechanism words predicted birth outcome, while self-report measures did not.Conclusion: In addition to self-report measures, word choice may serve as a useful screening tool for symptoms of depression and stress in pregnant women. The findings on pronoun use may reflect women’s changing experience of self-identity during the transition to motherhood.
Highlights
Pregnancy and the transition to motherhood is characterized by physiological, psychological, and social changes (Hobbs and Cole, 1976; Yali and Lobel, 1999)
For the final research question, we explored the relationship between word use and birth outcome variables above and beyond that of self-reported prenatal stress and depressive symptoms and common control variables
Our results suggest that analyzing word choice, regarding the use of sad words and words of certainty might serve as a helpful tool in screening for psychological symptoms in pregnancy and reduce the problems associated with social desirability and positive self-representation
Summary
Pregnancy and the transition to motherhood is characterized by physiological, psychological, and social changes (Hobbs and Cole, 1976; Yali and Lobel, 1999). Some women may go on to develop negative affect states such as anxiety or depressive symptoms. Self-report measures are vulnerable to social desirability effects Implicit measures, such as word choice analysis, may offer an alternative. Methods: In this longitudinal online-study, 427 pregnant women described their emotional experiences in writing and responded to self-report questionnaires assessing symptoms of prenatal stress and depression. Prenatal stress and depressive symptoms were associated with more frequent use of negative emotion words and words of anxiety, as well as with less first-person plural, but not singular pronoun use. Negative emotion and cognitive mechanism words predicted birth outcome, while self-report measures did not. Conclusion: In addition to self-report measures, word choice may serve as a useful screening tool for symptoms of depression and stress in pregnant women. The findings on pronoun use may reflect women’s changing experience of self-identity during the transition to motherhood
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