THE EFFECTS OF STRESS AND MARITAL INTIMACY ON PREGNANCY AND BIRTH COMPLICATIONS.
The present prospective longitudinal investigation examined the relationship of life event stress and marital intimacy to pregnancy and birth complications (N = 65). As expected, marital intimacy had a significant buffering effect on stress, but had no relationship with pregnancy and birth complications. In addition, stress levels were not related to pregnancy outcome. Social desirability and conflict resolution on the intimacy measure, as well as ethnicity were significantly related to pregnancy and birth complications. Particular attention is focused on social desirability and its implications for future social support research.
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