Objectives: To examine the personal characteristics and socio-economic background of women and their partners fearing vaginal childbirth.
Design: Questionnaire survey by the 30th week of pregnancy.
Setting: Sixteen outpatient maternity centres in the capital area of Finland.
Participants: Two hundred and seventy-eight women and their partners.
Main outcome measures: Personality traits, socio-economic factors, life and partnership satisfaction and pregnancy- and delivery-associated anxiety and fear.
Results: The more anxiety, neuroticism, vulnerability, depression, low self-esteem, dissatisfaction with the partnership, and lack of social support the women reported, the more they showed pregnancy-related anxiety and fear of vaginal delivery. In multiple regression analyses psychological variables of the woman contributed most to the prediction of pregnancy-related anxiety (increase in R2 = 0.20, P < 0.001), the strongest predictor being general anxiety (beta = 0.28, P < 0.001). Lack of support contributed most to the prediction of severe fear of vaginal delivery (increase in chi2 = 13.66, P < 0.01), the strongest predictor being dissatisfaction with the partnership (Wald 8.61, P < 0.01). Life-dissatisfaction reported by the partner contributed to pregnancy-related anxiety and his dissatisfaction with the partnership contributed to the woman's fear of vaginal delivery.
Conclusions: The personalities of a pregnant woman and her partner, and their relationship, influences the woman's attitude to her pregnancy and her forthcoming delivery.