This study examined health behaviours among nulliparous pregnant Swedish women. Structural equation modelling ( N = 350) was used to predict smoking and exercise at gestational weeks 20 and 32 from psychosocial factors measured in early and mid-pregnancy. Although women altered their lifestyle early in pregnancy, so that by gestational week 20 both smoking and exercise had declined, previous behaviours remained strong and consistent predictors of later behaviours. Hostility and health awareness predicted smoking at both weeks 20 and 32. Smoking at week 32 was also predicted by concurrent perceived stress. Exercise at week 20 was predicted by hostility, social support, stress, and whether or not the pregnancy was planned; and at week 32 only health awareness was significant. Social support had a significant indirect effect on each behaviour, which suggests that social support facilitated compliance with health professionals' recommendations. These results suggest that psychosocial factors previously associated with health outcomes also predict health behaviours throughout pregnancy.
Psychosocial predictors of smoking and exercise during pregnancy
Reprints and Corporate Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:
Academic Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:
If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.
Related research
People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.
Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.
Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.