I. A preliminary investigation of women's experience of pregnancy

Abstract

Three hundred and forty-six women volunteers who had given birth after the age of 40 (100 primiparae and 246 multiparae) were the subjects of this study on the experience of pregnancy and motherhood after 40. The subjects were recruited via a letter published in a varied selection of magazines. Women completed two questionnaires on a wide variety of aspects of their experiences of pregnancy and motherhood. This paper deals with the first phase of the research on becoming pregnant and the ‘40+’ pregnancy.

Significant differences between the primiparous and multiparous subjects were found on a range of findings, including the family and background of the subjects, the incidence of fertility problems, and the amounts of problems noted during the pregnancy. A sizeable proportion of babies in both groups were unplanned, but the time taken to conceive planned babies was not significantly different in the two groups. Parity was not a factor which influenced many of the findings.

The results were discussed in relation to the literature on older motherhood, and it was noted that the present findings offer some interesting alternatives to many of the commonly held (though little researched) views.