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The Role of Women's Relationships With Their Partners in Their Adjustment Following Prenatal Genetic Testing 1
Author(s) -
Humphreys Lauren,
Cappelli Mario,
Aronovitch Ethel,
Allanson Judith,
Hunter Alasdair G. W.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00314.x
Subject(s) - psychology , distress , partner effects , genetic counseling , test (biology) , clinical psychology , marital status , developmental psychology , demography , genetics , population , sociology , paleontology , biology
This study explored how aspects of the couple relationship contributed to the adjustment of 95 women who underwent prenatal diagnostic (PND) testing because of advanced maternal age (AMA). Participants completed self‐report measures prior to genetic counseling (T1), during the waiting period for PND test results (T2), and after normal results were received (T3). At T2, distress was predicted by the degree to which women approached the PND decision jointly with their partners, and marital adjustment was predicted by women's satisfaction with the support received from their partners. Marital adjustment at T3 was predicted by earlier levels of partner agreement about PND‐related issues. Results suggest that the couple relationship has the potential to facilitate or hinder women's experience of PND testing.