COPING STYLE AND PRETERM LABOR

Psychometric tests (State-Trait Anxiety Index and Utrechtse Coping Lij st) were administered to 23 primigravidae hospitalized for preterm lab or and to 22 controls in order to investigate whether women with and w ithout preterm labor present a different coping style or (in)effective ness of this coping and whether the coping style predicts duration of hospitalization and gestational age at delivery. No significant differ ences in trait anxiety nor in coping style were found between women wi th and women without preterm labor. However, within the group of women with preterm labor, coping mechanisms are important predictors of cou rse and outcome of the preterm contractions. Palliative coping and soc ial support seeking are protective mechanisms while active coping has an adverse effect upon outcome: an older gestational age at the moment of delivery is for 44% predicted by a higher social support seeking a nd a lower active coping.