MMPI CHANGES BETWEEN T H E FIRST AND THIRD TRIMESTER OF PREGNANCY'

DAVID OSBORNE

Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation

Administered the MMPI to a group of 94 women in the first and third tri- mester of pregnancy. Between the first and third trimester the women ex- perienced a lowering of subjective dist,ress and placed an increased emphasis on feminine interests.

Osborne (1977) compared MMPI scores of 94 women in the first trimester of pregnancy with scores of 1,690 female medical patients. The pregnant women ob- tained significantly lower scores on indices of subjective distress, somatic complaints, and general maladjustment. They obtained significantly higher scores on the Ego Strength scale. These results supported the conclusion of previous authors (Hooke & Marks, 1962) that pregnancy was a period of good psychological adjustment. The sample of women studied by Hooke and Marks (1962) were in the eighth month of pregnancy. Because psychologic adjustment may fluctuate during pregnancy, we readministered the MMPI to the 94 women who had taken the MMPI during the first trimester of pregnancy as part of the earlier study. The purpose of the present study was to compare the MMPI responses of women in the first trimester of preg- nancy to the responses of the same women in the third trimester.

TABLE 1

MMPI T-SCORES FOR 94 PREGNANT WOMEN DURING THE FIRST AND THIRD TRIMESTERS

First trimester Scale x SD

Third trimester x SD

L F K Hs D HY

MF PD

P A

P T

sc MA SI TH Es A R

48.80 51,12 58.31 52.59 55.12 55.55 53.47 45.11 56.21 55.68 53.86 49.71 54.69 44.98 56.78 45.29 52.37

6.52 6.27 8.96 6.35 9.71 6.98 9.09 8.60 7.70 8.49 7.66 9.60

10.03 9.09 8.53 9.50 7.83

48.47 50.01% 59.42 52.16 53.23* 54.78 53.02 43 * 53* 55.83 54.84 53.75 49.86 53.88 43.43** 57.16 4 3 . W 53.44

6.62 4.52 9.25 7.21 8.28 7.80 9.24 7.47 6.87 7.50 6.81

10.06 10.05 8.89 9.64 8.87 9.30

Note.-Significantly different from first-trimester score (ttest): * p <.05; **p < .01.

'Correspondence that concerns this article should be sent to David Osborne, Ph.D., Section of Psychology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, Minnesota 55901.

92

MMPI Changes in Pregnancy 93

METHOD Subjects and Procedure

The MMPI was administered to 94 women in the first and third trimester of pregnancy. The first trimester was defined as 14 weeks or less since the first day of the last menstrual period. The third trimester was defined as 28 or more weeks since the first day of the last menstrual period. These women were predominantly middle to upper-middle class. They ranged in age from 18 to 35 years. The great majority were in their twenties (mean age = 24.7 years). K-corrected T-scores were compared on the 3 validity scales, the 10 clinical scales, and 4 research scales; the 2-test for repeated measures (two-tailed) was used. The four research scales used in this study were Tired Housewife, Ego Strength, and Factor Scales A and R. Tired Housewife is a scale developed a t the Mayo Clinic that contains items that reflect the problems of managing households and coping with the daily problems of family life (Pearson & Swenson, 1967).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Table 1 contains K-corrected T-score means and standard deviations for the

various MMPI scales. In the third trimester, women obtained significantly lower scores on the scales F, D, MF, TH, and A. The lower scores on F, D, TH, and A lead to the conclusion that, as pregnancy continued, these women experienced less sub- jective distress and fewer concerns about the problems of managing households. The lower score on scale MF suggests that their interest patterns tended more in the feminine direction as the delivery date approached.

In conclusion, it appears that, while the first trimester of pregnancy was an emotionally comfortable time for these women, they became even more comfortable between the first and the third trimester.

REFERENCES HOOKE, J. F., & MARKS, P. A. MMPI characteristics of pregnancy. Journal of Clinical Psychology,

1962. 18. 316-317. I ,

OSBORNE, D. Comparison of MMPI scores of pregnant women and female medical patients. Jourrul

PEARSON, J. S., & SWENSON, W. M. A user's guide to the Mayo Clinic automated M M P Z program. of Clinical Psychology, 1977, SS, 448-450.

New York: Psychological Corporation, 1967.