Author: Amina Sadia
Supervisor: Rukhsana Kausar Ph.D
Degree: BS
Year: 2010-2014
University: Institute of Applied Psychology, Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the perceived social
support and marital adjustment of women with first versus subsequent
pregnancies. Sample of 105 pregnant women ranging in ages from 20-40
years (M = 26.83, SD = 4.62) were taken from the outdoor of gynecology
of public and private hospitals of Lahore. It was hypothesized that: there is
likely to be a positive relationship between social support and marital
adjustment of pregnant women; women with first pregnancy are likely to
have more social support than those with second and third pregnancy; and
gender of earlier child has influence on social support and marital
adjustment in subsequent pregnancies. Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier,
1976) and Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (Zimet,
Dhlem, Zimet & Farkly, 1988) were used for assessment. Results revealed
that marital adjustment had significant positive relationship with perceived
social support of pregnant women. Women conceiving first and second
time did not differ in social support and marital adjustment. Social support
of women conceiving third time was less than those conceiving first and
second time. Further, sex of the first child had effect on dyadic satisfaction
and sex of second child had effect on dyadic cohesion. Results are
discussed in terms of their implications and theoretical significance.
Keywords: Social Support, Marital Adjustment, Subsequent Pregnancies.
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Corresponding Address: Department of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: chairperson@appsy.pu.edu.pk, Phone: 92-42-9231245
