3 - (SYM 31) Identifying Maintaining Factors of Pregnancy-related Anxiety

Pregnancy-related anxiety (PRA), or worries related to the experience of being pregnant, has been identified as a potent predictor of postpartum mental health and birth outcomes (Blackmore et al., 2016; Dunkel Schetter & Tanner, 2012). Yet, factors related to its maintenance and etiology remain understudied. Previous work highlights the roles of some psychological factors such as intolerance of uncertainty (Rondung et al., 2018), mindfulness (Krusche et al., 2019), perfectionism (Lowndes et al., 2018), and anxiety sensitivity (Koc et al., 2020) in the maintenance and etiology of PRA. Mindfulness in particular has received substantial attention within treatment research for perinatal mood disorders, yet the ways in which mindfulness may buffer against or interact with other maintaining factors of PRA has not been elucidated.

The current study examines a more comprehensive acceptance-based model of PRA and explores the buffering effects of mindfulness in a cross-sectional questionnaire study. Therefore, our preliminary sample of 113 individuals (67% White, 17 weeks pregnant on average) completed self-report measures of PRA (Rini et al., 1999) and six measures of potential maintaining factors consistent with an acceptance-based model: Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (Carleton et al., 2007), Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (Rayan et al., 2018), Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Burgess et al., 2016), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (Reiss et al., 1986), Distress Tolerance Scale (Simons & Gaher, 2005), and Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (Gámez et al., 2014).

 Results indicated that all six factors were correlated with PRA (r’s from .27-.56) at a p < .01. Linear regressions were run to examine the relative predictive strength of each factor. With all six factors in the model, only intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety sensitivity were unique predictors of PRA (b=0.17, p=.009; b=0.15, p=.004, respectively). Additionally, mindfulness significantly moderated the association between IUS and PRA (interaction b=0.06, p=.05) as well as the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and PRA (interaction b=0.05, p=.05).

These results begin to comprehensively examine factors related to the maintenance and etiology of PRA within an acceptance-based framework. These results also support preliminary evidence that mindfulness may buffer the effects of intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety sensitivity on PRA.  These findings will be discussed in light of their relevance for treatment development for PRA.