Work, pregnancy, and distress

Abstract
Increasing numbers of pregnant women are working throughout much, if not all, of their pregnancies. In this secondary analysis of existing longitudinal data on family health, pregnant women were grouped according to employment status: 126 homemakers, 70 employed part-time, and 135 employed full-time. There were no significant differences between the groups in measures of distress, including depression, trait and state anxiety, and perception of negative life events. Homemakers were significantly younger, less educated, and had lower family incomes than either group of employed women. There was also a non-significant trend towards higher distress scores among homemakers. Overall, among these women, it was the similarities which were more striking than the differences, which supports recent research findings about distress among pregnant women.

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