Agreeableness and pregnancy: Relations with coping and psychiatric symptoms, a longitudinal study on Spanish pregnant women

Spirituality, Personality, and Emotional Distress During COVID-19 Pandemic in Croatia

This study examined the association between spiritual quality of life (QoL), spiritual coping, emotional distress, and personality during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in a convenience sample of Croatian adults (n = 2,860, 80.6% women). Participants completed an online questionnaire that collected information on sociodemographic characteristics, distress (the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 21), spiritual coping and spiritual QoL (the WHO Quality of Life-Spirituality, Religiousness, and Personal Beliefs), and personality (the International Personality Item Pool). The hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that personality traits, especially emotional stability, were the most significant predictors of mental health outcomes. Spiritual coping styles were a predictor of worse, while spiritual QoL of better psychological outcomes. Results demonstrate the complex relations between different aspects of spirituality/religiosity with personality and emotional outcomes and suggest that distress motivates the engagement of spiritual coping in times of disaster.

Does pain after delivery unequivocally lead to postpartum depression? The moderating role of religious coping

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this work is to explore whether the relationship between pain after delivery and postpartum depression is increased or decreased by the use of religion as a coping strategy (moderation).

METHODS

A longitudinal cohort study was conducted. The sample was evaluated on three occasions: third trimester of pregnancy (religious coping), after birth (pain severity) and four months after delivery (postpartum depression). Participants were 122 women (mean age = 31.29; SD = 4.9: range = [22, 42 years]) with low obstetric risk.

RESULTS

Both pain severity and religious coping contributed to postpartum depression (r = .20, p = .029 and r = .28, p = .04, respectively). Religious coping exacerbated the relationship between pain after delivery and postpartum depression (B = -0.11, t = -2.48, p = .014, [-0.20, -0.02]). Depression was highest in participants using religious coping irrespective of pain severity levels.

CONCLUSION

These findings support the importance of person-environment interaction studies and provide new evidence on the deleterious role of religious coping in the well-being of women after childbirth.

Worry during the initial height of the COVID-19 crisis in an Italian sample

In the earliest months of 2020, the COVID-19 emergency reached a pandemic status of international concern. In this situation, people tended to think more about current difficulties and their negative consequences due to the fear of infection and changed daily life during quarantine. The aim of this study was to explore the severity of worry in relation to individual characteristics and emotions during COVID-19 outbreak in the Italian people. Socio-demographic questions and standardized self-report questionnaires were administered online. Results highlighted a moderate level of worry, anxiety and distress. People with higher perceptions of COVID-19 severity exhibited higher levels of worry in contrast to those who perceived a greater control over the possibility of infection. Multiple regression analysis indicated that coping styles, emotion regulation strategies and personality traits significantly contributed to explain the variance in worry scores. Findings supported that cognitive reappraisal, emotion-focused coping and extraversion were protective factors for worry, while expressive suppression, dysfunctional and problem-focused coping, and neuroticism were related to high worry. However, neuroticism and dysfunctional coping were particularly important predictors of worry. This paper also considers possible psychological interventions that might be implemented in order to deal with mental health issues emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Can We Predict the Evolution of Depressive Symptoms, Adjustment, and Perceived Social Support of Pregnant Women from Their Personality Characteristics? A Technology-Supported Longitudinal Study

Background: Research exploring the relationship between personality and important pregnancy outcomes (i.e., depressive symptoms, adjustment, and perceived social support) tends to be cross-sectional, arguably due to the difficulties of conducting longitudinal and mental health research in this population. The objective of this study is to use a web-based solution to longitudinally explore how personality traits are associated, not only with the co-occurrence of these outcomes but also with their evolution during pregnancy. Stability and change of these outcomes will also be investigated. Methods: The sample included 85 pregnant women attending several medical centers in Spain. The web-based assessment included sociodemographic and obstetric variables (ad hoc) and personality (at the second trimester only), and outcomes at both the second and the third trimester (i.e., depressive symptoms, adjustment, and perceived social support). Results: The results showed that adjustment worsened from the second to the third trimester of pregnancy. Neuroticism (N), low extraversion (E), and psychoticism (P) were cross-sectionally and longitudinally associated with outcomes. In addition, N and, to a lesser extent P, uniquely contributed to the evolution of these outcomes in the multivariate analyses, including autoregressions. Conclusion: Personality and especially N and P should be evaluated early during pregnancy mental health screening. The use of a web page appears to be a useful tool for that purpose. Technologies might also help disseminate mental health prevention programs for these women, which would be especially recommended for those with a personality profile characterized by high N and P and, to a lesser extent, low E.

The effect of the personality traits of pregnant women on the fear of childbirth

PURPOSE

This study was conducted to determine the effects of pregnant women's personality traits on the fear of childbirth (FOC).

DESIGN AND METHODS

In total, 422 pregnant women who consulted an antenatal polyclinic at a hospital in Turkey were included in this descriptive cross-sectional study. For data collection, a demographic questionnaire, the Quick Big Five Personality Test, and version A of the Wijma delivery expectancy questionnaire (W-DEQ A) were used.

FINDINGS

It was determined that as the scores of two of the personality traits, ie, agreeableness and conscientiousness, increased, planned pregnancies increased. The W-DEQ A median score was 61.5. The variables affecting the W-DEQ A score included emotional stability, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Determining the personality traits of pregnant women can contribute to helping individuals with personality traits related to the FOC during the antenatal period.

Humorous cognitive reappraisal: More benign humour and less "dark" humour is affiliated with more adaptive cognitive reappraisal strategies

The capacity to find humorous perspectives in aversive situations may outline a helpful strategy in the context of cognitive reappraisal. Yet, research suggested that some people produce more adaptive humour than others. At the same time, not all forms of cognitive reinterpretation seem to be unequivocally beneficial. The present study aimed to investigate specific cognitive reappraisal strategies that individuals employ in humorous reappraisal of adverse events. In a sample of 95 participants, the use of cognitive reappraisal sub-strategies was assessed in a behavioural test in which participants were required to generate a series of humorous reappraisals of self-relevant, threatening events. These reappraisal sub-strategies (three positive reinterpretation strategies, three de-emphasising strategies) were then related to the habitual use of different kinds of humour as well as the broader DSM-5 personality trait domains and well-being in terms of depressive experiences, assessed by self-report questionnaires. While no robust relationships were found for reappraisal strategies based on de-emphasising, sub-strategies within the positive reinterpretation category showed specific and contrasting associations with the examined traits. Findings indicated that the ability to produce humour is only linked to a favourable pattern of reappraisal strategies when manifested in benign forms of humour. Specific relations also emerged for the broader personality traits. The study suggests that some characteristics that advance the use of benign humour also benefit adaptive emotion regulation. The opposite seems to be true for malicious, or "dark" humour. The introduced behavioural approach to the analysis of humorous cognitive reappraisal may prove useful also in future related research.