Exploring Factors of Traumatic Birth Experiences

Pregnancy and motherhood is a beautiful and joyous phase in life, but it is not without difficulties. The event of childbirth can be especially distressing due to various emotional, physical, and psychological factors leading to a phenomenon known as “birth trauma.” Birth trauma has been on the rise over the past decades and can be damaging to the wellbeing of the mother and child. In order to gain insight, the current study explored birth trauma’s relation to the mother’s childhood trauma and postpartum maternal confidence/self-efficacy. Participants were 84 Albertan mothers (M = 31.19 years, SD = 5.873, range = 22 – 45; 3.6% Asian, 32.1% Black, 57.1% European/Caucasian, 2.4% Hispanic, 1,2% Indigenous, and 3.6% mixed) who completed self-report measures about birth trauma, childhood trauma, maternal confidence, and parenting self-efficacy. Results showed that childhood trauma was predictive of birth trauma and maternal confidence/ self-efficacy. Birth trauma had no significant relationship with maternal confidence/self-efficacy. The findings highlight that childhood experiences play a defining role in how a woman perceives her childbirth and her parenting. Addressing childhood trauma is critical in positively impacting the peripartum period.