Influence of Stressful Life Events on Partners’ Hostility and Rejection in Pregnant Women: Exploring the Mediating Role of Anxiety Sensitivity

Abstract

Pregnancy is a stressful period during which stressful life events, including abuse, mental illness, and grief for loss and familial demands, negatively affect women’s mental health; stressors lead to an increase in self-reported anxiety sensitivity, that is, the fear of anxiety-related bodily sensations. In Pakistani culture, a partner’s hostility and rejection, marked by relationship conflict, may aggravate these effects. This study aims to investigate the relationship between stressful life events and partner hostility and rejection, and to evaluate the mediating role of anxiety sensitivity. Using a correlational research design, data were collected using the Stressful Life Events Screening Questionnaire (SLESQ), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI-r), and Intimate Adult Relationship Questionnaire (IARQ) from a sample of 205 pregnant women. Mediation analysis was conducted using the process macro for SPSS. The analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between stressful life events and partner hostility and rejection; further, this relationship was significantly mediated by anxiety sensitivity. The results revealed that anxiety sensitivity significantly mediated the relationship between stressful life events and partner hostility and rejection during pregnancy. These findings stress the need to incorporate anxiety sensitivity as one of the factors that should be targeted during stress intervention in pregnant women, especially in settings with a partner’s hostility that may exacerbate psychological distress during pregnancy.