Dissertation
Examining the Baby Preparation and Worry Scale (Baby-PAWS) in a Czech Sample
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
07/2025
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000007926
Abstract
Research examining distress during pregnancy provides insight into maternal wellbeing and the relationship between prenatal stress exposure and child development. While measures are available to assess mental health during pregnancy (e.g., depression, anxiety), development of the Baby Preparation and Worry Scale (Baby-PAWS; Erickson et al., 2020) allows for examination of anticipatory worry during pregnancy, including: worries concerning support from one’s partner, non-parental childcare, and baby caregiving. The present study examines the validity of Baby-PAWS in a Czech sample, allowing for cross-cultural comparisons. Healthy pregnant women (N = 167) completed questionnaires during their third trimester and 6-8 weeks postpartum including: Baby-PAWS, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Pregnancy Related Anxieties Questionnaire-Revised (PRAQ-R), Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form (IBQ-R VSF), and demographic information. The proposed study intends to examine the 1) the factor structure of the Baby-PAWS 16-item scale in a Czech sample; (2) internal consistency of resulting Baby-PAWS factors/scales; (3) concurrent validity via associations between the Baby-PAWS scores (i.e., total and subscales) and established measures of prenatal maternal depression (i.e., EPDS), general (i.e., STAI-6) and pregnancy-specific (i.e., PRAQ-R2) anxiety obtained in the third trimester; and (4) predictive validity with respect to postpartum maternal depression and anxiety and infant temperament factors (i.e., IBQ-R VSF Surgency, Negative Affect, and Effortful Control). Findings will allow for cross-cultural comparison of the clinical and research utility of the Baby-PAWS, as well as further examination of links to pre- and postnatal mental health and infant temperament.
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Details
- Title
- Examining the Baby Preparation and Worry Scale (Baby-PAWS) in a Czech Sample
- Creators
- Ela Sehic
- Contributors
- Maria A Gartstein (Chair)Brian F French (Committee Member)Chang Liu (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Psychology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 61
- Identifiers
- 99901297655201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation