The Prediction of Pregnancy Anxiety Based on Spouse's Personality and Emotional Intelligence

The aim of this study was to predict pregnancy anxiety based on the personality and emotional intelligence of the spouse. The research method was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of data collection. The statistical population included all pregnant women and their husbands in Tehran in 1398. 120 couples (120 females and 120 males) were selected by available scoring. The research instruments were Pregnancy Anxiety Questionnaire (Wendenberg, 1989), Five Personality Factor Questionnaire (McCreery and Costa, 1989), and Emotional Intelligence (Shut et al., 1988). The reliability of the questionnaires was calculated using Cronbachchr('39')s alpha method, the value of which was higher than 0.7 for all three questionnaires. Content validity was also used to test the validity of the questionnaire, for which the questionnaires were approved by relevant experts. Data analysis was performed from questionnaires through spss-22 software in two descriptive and inferential sections (Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple regression). The results of data analysis showed that the personality component of neuroticism component (β = 0.225) is a positive and significant predictor of pregnancy anxiety and the extroversion component (β = -0.21) is a negative and significant predictor of pregnancy anxiety. Between the components of emotional intelligence, the expression of emotion (β = -0.188) and the application of emotion (β = -0.222) is a negative and significant predictor of pregnancy anxiety. Based on the results, personality and emotional intelligence can predict pregnancy anxiety. The results of this study to inform pregnant women about how personality and emotional intelligence affect pregnancy anxiety can have a positive effect.