What is the role played by pregnancy in the construction of a woman’s identity and her association with her child-to-be?

ABSTRACT

Objective: The present work aimed to evaluate: (a) the psychometric properties of the Centrality of Event Scale in Italian primiparous and multiparous women; (b) individual differences in those demographic variables that influence change in women’s identity and the maternal role acquisition during pregnancy; (c) the association between the extent to which pregnancy has an impact on woman’s life story and identity and prenatal attachment; (c) how the centrality of the pregnancy event is related to the experience of PTSD during pregnancy.

Background: Pregnancy is a crucial phase in women’s life that involves many changes for a woman’s role and identity.

Methods 319 pregnant women were assessd during the third trimester of pregnancy.

Results: Exploratory Factor Analyses confirmed a one-factor solution of the CES. Moreover, the perception of pregnancy as central in women’s lives is significantly related to prenatal attachment. Finally, the perception of pregnancy as central in women’s lives is positively correlated to PTSD symptoms.

Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence on the validity of the scale with pregnant women samples, which may contribute for a better understanding of the impact of pregnancy on women’s identity and life story, as well as the underlying psychological challenges related to pregnancy.

KEYWORDS:

• Pregnancy
• transition to motherhood
• centrality of event
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.