PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG WOMEN WITH RECURRENT SPONTANEOUS-ABORTION

Fifty-seven of 100 women with recurrent abortion completed questionnai res designed to assess demographic and reproductive variables, depress ion, anxiety, social desirability, self-esteem, locus of control, and marital adjustment. The results indicated that 32% of the women could be classified as depressed. The subjects also reported higher than ave rage levels of acute and chronic anxiety. Fifty-three percent of the s ubjects reported below average marital adjustment. Post hoc analyses i ndicated that the women. who had a previous elective abortion had high er levels of anxiety, lower marital adjustment, and different attribut ions regarding their pregnancy losses than the women who had not had a n elective abortion. Having a living child was not a protective buffer against psychological distress.