The effects of adverse childhood experiences on pregnancy-related anxiety and acceptance of motherhood role

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences are a factor that may cause physical illness and deterioration of lifelong well-being in addition to many mental and psychiatric problems in the future. It is important to question and treat them. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effects of adverse childhood experiences on pregnancy-related anxiety and acceptance of motherhood role. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 536 pregnant women. The data were collected using the “Personal Information Form”, the “Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire (ACEQ)”, the “Acceptance of Motherhood Role (AoMR)” subscale of the “Prenatal Self Evaluation Questionnaire (PSEQ)” and the “Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire-Revised 2 (PRAQ-R2)”. RESULTS: It was found that those with high levels of negative childhood experience had higher levels of anxiety in pregnancy and lower acceptance of maternal role than the other groups (p<0.05). Additionally, a one-unit change in the AoMR score led to a 0.23-unit decrease in the ACEQ score, whereas a one-unit change in the PRAQ-R2 score led to a 0.57-unit increase in the ACEQ score (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Adverse childhood events increase pregnancy-related anxiety and negatively affect acceptance of motherhood role.