An investigation of the relationship between the magnitude of life stress, appraisal of adjustment to life stress and the occurrence of conception among women of childbearing age
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Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to explore the relationship between life stress and conception. Previously, it had been reported that women who were pregnant sustained life stress equal to or greater than people who sustained serious illness. This investigator attempted to prospectively establish what had been retrospectively found and to make a theoretical contribution to the understanding of the relationship between life stress and health status.
Prior to this investigation empirical evidence suggested that the occurrence of life stress may be causally related to the onset of pregnancy. A pathway of life stress to illness reported in the literature was utilized for deriving a similar pathway leading to conception.
The hypotheses that were tested were: (1) Women with high magnitude of life stress are more likely to conceive than women with low magnitude of life stress. (2) Women with a high appraisal of adjustment to life stress are more likely to conceive than women with a low appraisal of adjustment to life stress events. (3) Women who conceive are more likely to have a change in appraisal of adjustment from higher to lower appraisal than women who do not conceive.
Respondents for this study consisted of two-hundred and fifty (250) alumni from a local suburban state college, between the ages of 21 and 35, of middle-class status. Using coital-related contraceptive devices or no contraception at all, desiring to be pregnant now or in the near future, or having no desire to be pregnant ever, these respondents completed a Recent Life Changes Questionnaire (RLCQ) and a General Information Questionnaire which they were mailed in November of 1978. In May of 1979, they completed and returned to the investigator the RLCQ where they reappraised life stress events that they had previously reported experiencing and indicated new events that had occurred to them during the intervening six months. They also completed and returned a Conception Information Form where they indicated whether or not they had conceived during the intervening six months.
The data was analyzed using chi-square analysis. Results were accepted at the 0.05 level of significance. None of the hypotheses were supported.
Supplementary analysis using t-tests for independent samples indicated a significant difference between the pregnant and non-pregnant groups based on the means of the subscales of items related to work and interpersonal relationships primarily i.e., women who conceived experienced less stress related to employment and interpersonal relationships than did women who did not conceive. Discriminant analysis of the difference between the pregnant and non-pregnant groups yielded a discriminant function that suggested that women who sustained a stable life style i.e., lived in a permanent residence, did not work outside the home, were married and wanted to be pregnant were more likely to have conceived in the intervening six months. The entire sample sustained high life stress. The women who conceived sustained a higher magnitude of life stress in the intervening six months than the women who did not conceive.
The existence of a stable life style together with the high overall life stress report and the increase in stress among the pregnant women in the intervening six months suggests that a complex relationship between life stress and conception exists.
Description
This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 8027481; ProQuest document ID: 303028237. The author still retains copyright.
Repository Posting Date
2020-06-12T18:21:44Z
Notes
This item has not gone through this repository's peer-review process, but has been accepted by the indicated university or college in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the specified degree.
Type Information
Type | Dissertation |
Acquisition | Proxy-submission |
Review Type | None: Degree-based Submission |
Format | Text-based Document |
Category Information
Evidence Level | Observational |
Research Approach | Quantitative Research |
Keywords | Stress and Health; Barriers to Conception; Stress' Effect on Reproduction |
Degree Information
Grantor | New York University |
Advisor | Swanson, Ardis R. |
Level | PhD |
Year | 1980 |
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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
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