Sajid Mehmood Alvi, Syeda Ayat-e Zainab Ali, Rabia Akbar Shah, Tahira Jabeen, Nighat Gul, Maryam Afridi.
Internalizing psychological problems as predictor of mental wellbeing and life satisfaction among pregnant women.
Pak J Physiol Jan ;14(3):28-32.

Background: Pregnant women are at an increase risk of developing depression, anxiety and stress which can lead to less life satisfaction and decrease mental wellbeing. The present study was intended to examine the impact of internalizing psychological problems, including depression, anxiety, stress, on mental well being and life satisfaction, and to investigate depression impact on stress and anxiety among pregnant women. Method: It was a cross-sectional survey conducted at University of Haripur from Nov 2015 to May 2016. Following purposive sampling, one hundred pregnant women with age range of 19 to 38 years without any limitation of gestational age were approached during pregnancy from Obs/Gyn OPD of District Headquarter Hospital, Yahya Welfare Complex, and Allama Iqbal Hospital, Haripur. Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale, Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and Life Satisfaction scale were used for data collection. Pearson correlation analysis was used to access relationship among study variables. Impact of internalizing psychological problems on mental wellbeing and life satisfaction were computed through linear regression analysis. Results: Depression, anxiety and stress were positively related to each other and negatively related to wellbeing and life satisfaction (p<0.001). Linear regression analysis depicted that internalizing psychological problems have significant impact on mental wellbeing and life satisfaction (p<0.001). Further, depression has a significant impact on stress and anxiety of pregnant women (p<0.001). Conclusion: Presence of stress, depression and anxiety significantly decreases mental wellbeing and life satisfaction during pregnancy. Increase in depression is highly responsible for rise in stress and anxiety among pregnant women.

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