Page No.110-116
Shilpa Kumari, Shobhna Joshi, and Madhu Jain,
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
The aim of the present study was to examine the relationships between religiosity,
anxiety and pregnancy outcomes. It was hypothesised that (i) religiosity would be
negatively related to anxiety, (ii) religiosity would be positively related to healthy
pregnancy outcomes and (iii) anxiety would be negatively related to healthy pregnancy
outcomes. The study was conducted on a sample of 200 pregnant women (aged
20-30 years) in the third trimester of their pregnancy, which were recruited in the
Obstetrics department of the Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi. The assessment of gestational age was based on the last menstrual
period. Religiosity and anxiety were assessed using Bhusan’s Religiosity Scale,
Rastogi and Tripathi’s State and Trait and Free Floating Anxiety Scale (Hindi version)
respectively. The personal data sheet was also used for obtaining information
regarding the delivery and health status of the baby from hospital records. The data
was analysed with correlation and hierarchical regression. Results indicated that
religiosity is significantly negatively correlated with anxiety and positively correlated
with pregnancy outcomes, indicating that more-religious women would experience
less anxiety and would have healthy pregnancy outcomes. Results also revealed
that anxiety is negatively related to healthy pregnancy outcomes.
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