Childhood trauma and fear of childbirth: findings from a birth cohort study.

The aim of this study is to investigate if experiencing childhood trauma (emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical abuse, physical neglect, or sexual abuse) or a greater total burden of childhood trauma increase the risk of fear of childbirth (FOC). This study included 2556 women living in Southwest Finland. Women were recruited during routine ultrasound visits at gestational week (gwk) 12. Experiencing childhood trauma was assessed in retrospect with the Trauma and Distress Scale (TADS) questionnaire completed at gwk 14. Information on the diagnosis of FOC (ICD-10 diagnosis O99.80) was obtained from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. Associations between childhood trauma (domains and total TADS score) and FOC were analyzed with logistic regression in unadjusted and adjusted models. Emotional abuse (aOR 1.25, 95% CI 1.10-1.42), emotional neglect (aOR 1.26, 95% CI 1.08-1.46), and a greater total burden of trauma (TADS total score) (aOR 1.06, 95% CI 1.02-1.10) increased the risk for FOC. We found no evidence for physical abuse (aOR 1.15, 95% CI 1.00-1.32), physical neglect (aOR 1.06, 95% CI 0.92-1.22), and sexual abuse (aOR 1.24, 95% CI 0.99-1.56) associating with FOC. Childhood emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and a greater total burden of childhood trauma increase the risk for FOC. However, the childhood traumatic events were inquired in retrospect, which could distort the events.

Parental divorce in childhood does not independently predict maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: This study sought to investigate if parental divorce in childhood increases the risk for depressive symptoms in pregnancy. METHODS: Women were recruited during their ultrasound screening in gestational week (gwk) 12. The final study sample consisted of 2,899 pregnant women. Questionnaires (including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) were completed at three measurement points (gwk 14, 24 and 34). Prenatal depressive symptoms were defined as Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score ≥ 13. Parental divorce and other stressful life events in childhood were assessed at gwk 14. Parental divorce was defined as separation of parents who were married or cohabiting. Questionnaire data was supplemented with data from Statistics Finland and the Finnish Medical Birth Register. RESULTS: Parental divorce in childhood increased the risk for depressive symptoms during pregnancy (OR 1.47; 95% CI 1.02-2.13), but the connection was no longer significant after adjusting for socioeconomic status, family conflicts and witnessing domestic violence in the childhood family (OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.54-1.18). CONCLUSIONS: Parental divorce alone does not predict depressive symptoms during pregnancy.