Prenatal relationship conflict behavior predicts childbirth experiences and birth outcomes.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Prospective observational cohort study following expectant couples from pregnancy through delivery.
PubMed 32162942 · doi:10.1037/fam0000650
What was done
Forty-seven first-time expectant couples engaged in an observationally coded conflict discussion during pregnancy. Several months later, after delivery, couples self-reported subjective childbirth stress, and medical chart data on gestational outcomes and birth complications were aggregated into a cumulative birth risk score. Analyses assessed whether positive and negative conflict behaviors predicted birth outcomes and birth stress, controlling for maternal pregnancy symptoms.
What was found
No numerical values, effect sizes, or test statistics are reported in the abstract. Negative conflict behavior during pregnancy was associated with higher cumulative birth risk scores, and positive conflict behavior was associated with lower birth risk, even after controlling for maternal pregnancy symptoms. More negative conflict behavior predicted higher mother-reported birth stress, and positive conflict behavior predicted lower father-reported birth stress, but these birth stress associations became non-significant after controlling for maternal pregnancy symptoms.
Why it matters
This study suggests that interpersonal couple interactions and conflict patterns during pregnancy may serve as behavioral predictors of cumulative perinatal risk and parental childbirth stress.
Limits
The sample size is very small (47 couples), limiting statistical power. The abstract lacks quantitative estimates, confidence intervals, and p-values. The cumulative birth risk score is a composite index that may obscure individual clinical outcomes, and unmeasured confounders cannot be excluded.
Cited by
- supports Couples who engaged in more negative and less positive conflict during pregnancy had more medically complex births and appraised the births as more stressful.