Psychosocial adjustment during pregnancy: the experience of mature gravidas.

OBJECTIVE To determine if gravidas ages 35 years and older have greater conflict in adapting to pregnancy than do younger gravidas. DESIGN Static group comparison. SETTING Prenatal care facilities and prenatal education classes. PARTICIPANTS Sixty-four older gravidas (35 years and older) and 46 younger gravidas (32 years and younger) who were in their 3rd trimester of pregnancy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Lederman Prenatal Self-Evaluation Questionnaire II, which contains seven scales measuring conflict in psychosocial tasks during pregnancy. RESULTS Older gravidas had significantly less fear of helplessness and loss of control in labor than did younger gravidas. Age and education but not parity may account for this finding. CONCLUSIONS Age and education may balance the additional concerns older gravidas may have about pregnancy and allow older gravidas to adjust to pregnancy as well as younger women do.