Sense of own attractiveness among women in advanced pregnancy

__________________________________________________________________________ Introduction: Due to the contemporary fashion for a slim silhouette some women may be concerned about change in their outer appearance during pregnancy. Purpose: To examine the sense of own physical attractiveness among women in advanced pregnancy and its conditioning. Material and methods: From the 1730 who reported for regular health check-up to 3 randomly selected outpatient departments, 260 were selected who became pregnant, and the examinations with the questionnaire were repeated. Results: Before pregnancy 2.3% women were satisfied with their body image, 13.1% – satisfied, 29.2% – unsatisfied, whereas the reminder (55.4%) admitted that they were not able to evaluate it. During pregnancy, the results were as follows: 24.6%, 32.3%, 17.7% and 25.4%, respectively. The differences in the frequency of these replies (prior to and during pregnancy) were highly significant statistically (p<0.001), to the benefit of the pregnant women who were more often satisfied with their body image than those non-pregnant and less often dissatisfied. In the group of women in the study, the level of satisfaction with own physical appearance before pregnancy significantly differed by age (p< 0.05). In advanced pregnancy, age, woman’s general wellbeing in pregnancy, and attitude of the partner towards the pregnant woman were significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The sense of own attractiveness among women in advanced pregnancy is varied; nevertheless, it is higher, compared to the period before becoming pregnant. The factors which condition the sense of own attractiveness among women in advanced pregnancy is age, general wellbeing during that time, and the attitude of the partner towards them.