Level of happiness and its determining factors in pregnant women: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of happiness and screen its determinant factors in pregnant Iranian women. Background: The psychological health status of a mother during pregnancy has a huge impact on clinical outcomes of pregnancy. Recent studies have demonstrated associations between mothers’ level of happiness and pregnancy outcomes such as low birth weight and intrauterine growth restriction. However, the data on determinant factors of maternal happiness are limited. Methods: Healthy pregnant women referring to a prenatal clinic in Tehran between 2013 and 2014 were recruited. We used the Persian version of the standard Oxford Happiness Questionnaire to assess level of happiness. In addition, personal, marital, pregnancy-related and psychological data were collected. Univariable and multivariable logistic analyses were conducted to investigate the determinant factors of happiness. Results: Two hundred pregnant women completed the questionnaire. One hundred and thirty women (68.5%) were categorised as happy. At a screening P value level of 0.2, univariable analysis selected maternal age (odds ratio [OR] = 8.3, P = 0.03), smoking (OR = 4.8, P = 0.01), level of education (OR = 1.78, P = 0.07), use of antidepressants (OR = 1.78, P = 0.17), and order of child (OR = 1.6, P = 0.18) for the multivariable model. The final multivariable logistic model demonstrated that maternal age (OR = 7.7, P = 0.01 for mothers aged 21–25; OR = 7.2, P = 0.01 for mothers aged 26–30; OR = 5.4, P = 0.03 for mothers aged 31–35; and OR=6.6, P = 0.05 for mothers aged 36–40 vs. mothers aged 20 or below) and smoking (OR = 5.4, P = 0.01 for mothers who had never smoked vs. mothers who had given up smoking) were independent correlates of happiness. Conclusion: Our observations suggest probable associations of maternal age and smoking with level of happiness in pregnancy. Further prospective longitudinal studies could investigate the causality inference of these associations.

Keywords:

• Pregnancy
• happiness
• Oxford Questionnaire
• risk factors
• smoking
• maternal age
• Iran