Social Psychiatry, Vol. 52 No. 3, 2024.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.24869/spsih.2024.187
Risk and Protective Factors of Psychological Well-Being in Women Who Experienced Miscarriage
Filipa Maksan
; Gardelin Kindergarten, Pakoštane, Croatia
Marina Vidaković
orcid.org/0000-0002-1559-6826
; Department of Psychology at the University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia
Abstract
Motherhood is one of the key roles in the lives of most women, however, approximately 20% of all pregnancies
unfortunately end in miscarriage. The main aim of this paper was to explore the contributions of risk (recurrent miscarriages,
time passed since a miscarriage, assessment of the negative impact of miscarriage on everyday life, assessment of distress
experienced after miscarriage) and protective factors (various coping strategies, social support received from the partner
and the environment, and the quality of marital communication) to the symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, as
well as to life satisfaction in general. A total of 152 participants who have experienced miscarriage (before the 24th week of
pregnancy) took part in the study. The average age of the participants was 33 years (SD = 6.73), while the time passed since
the last miscarriage was 3.39 years (SD = 4.77) with a range from one week to 28 years. The measuring instruments used
included coping with stress, social support, quality of marital communication, life satisfaction, depression, anxiety and
stress. The findings indicate that higher gestational age of the fetus at the time of pregnancy loss is negatively associated
with life satisfaction, and the more time passes since the miscarriage the fewer are the symptoms of depression, anxiety
and stress, with increasing life satisfaction. Furthermore, the negative impact of miscarriage on everyday life is associated with poorer psychological well-being. It was determined through regression analyses that the use of avoidance coping
strategies is a significant predictor of psychological well-being (a positive predictor of anxiety, stress and depression,
i.e. negative predictor of life satisfaction). Marital communication quality is a negative predictor of depression, anxiety
and stress, i.e. positive predictor of life satisfaction. In addition, lower stress levels, along with higher life satisfaction,
were observed in participants who perceived more social support from their environment. The subjective health status
assessment proved to be a significant predictor of psychological well-being measures. Among other things, this study
indicates that the psychological well-being of women who ex
Keywords
Psychological Well-Being; Miscarriage; Partner Relationship
Hrčak ID:
322572
URI
Publication date:
17.9.2024.
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