Sense of coherence in pregnant and new mothers - A longitudinal study of a national cohort of Swedish speaking women

Sense of coherence is not stable during the childbearing period and is associated with women's sociodemographic background, emotional health and attitudes, but not with reproductive history or birth outcome. Parental stress is negatively correlated with SOC, and some important characteristics are similar in women having low SOC and high parental stress. Identifying women with low SOC in early pregnancy could be a means to prevent later parental stress.