Changes in Women’s Meaning-Life Orientations and Values in Connection with Childbirth

Introduction. Pregnancy and childbirth have a profound impact on a woman. These events are a normal life crisis that is present in most women and results in a dramatic loss of a sense of stability. During this period, the restructuring of a woman’s personality is based on psychological patterns similar to those of normal mental development. Thus, pregnancy acts as a biological prerequisite for the change in her life. From the point of view of the empirical psychological component, the specificity of meaning-life orientations and values in women in connection with childbirth is quite diverse, but little studied.

Objective. To study changes in meaning and value orientations in women during the period from the stage of pregnancy planning to the beginning of motherhood.

Materials and methods. In the course of the study we used: the test “Meaning-Life Orientations” by D. A. Leontiev (SZHO method); the method “Value Orientations” by Sh. Schwartz (adapted by V. N. Karandashev). Methods of statistical data processing were used with the help of R program to calculate Student’s t-criterion to study the reliability of differences in data between stages.

Results. There are reliably significant differences in the meaning and life orientations of women preparing for pregnancy and women who have already given birth. The specificity of prevailing value orientations differs in women preparing for pregnancy and in women who have already given birth. The values of women preparing for childbirth are dominated by such values as “power”, “achievements”, and “stimulation”, while the values of women who have already given birth are higher on the scales of “universalism” and “conformity”.

Discussion. The study revealed that the complex of value and meaning-life orientations is significantly transformed in women during pregnancy and after childbirth, which causes the transformation of the system of values in relation to themselves, the child and the surrounding reality. Based on the results obtained, it is possible to develop and implement a set of measures aimed at adopting a new system of values and lifestyle of women during the first stages of motherhood.

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