Induced abortion has no psychological effect on early parental self-efficacy and psychological well-being: The Steps to the Healthy Development and Well-being of Children study.

INTRODUCTION

An association between a history of induced abortion and psychological well-being post-abortion has been demonstrated in recently published studies, which is contrary to the findings of existing known high-quality studies.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

An evaluation was conducted to determine whether a history of abortion affected the psychological well-being and parental self-efficacy of first-time mothers and their partners; this assessment was performed when the child was aged 18 months. Questionnaires were administered to 492 first-time mothers, 37 of whom had a history of abortion, and their partners (n = 436). Women with previous miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and deliveries were excluded. The women were allocated to an abortion group or a comparison group, depending on each woman's abortion history obtained from medical birth registry data. Psychological well-being, which encompassed social and emotional loneliness, marital satisfaction, social phobia, and depression, was evaluated as a predictor of maternal and paternal self-efficacy within the two groups. The analysis was conducted using multi-group structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

Induced abortion was not predictive of maternal or paternal well-being or parental self-efficacy. Overall, maternal and paternal psychological well-being was predictive of parental self-efficacy when an assessment was performed, regardless of an abortion history. After testing the invariance of multi-group models, psychological well-being was similarly found to predict parental self-efficacy in both the abortion history and comparison groups.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that the psychological well-being of parents is an important predictor of maternal and paternal self-efficacy during toddlerhood. Abortion history was not demonstrated to negatively impact the psychological well-being of parents with respect to their capacity for parental self-efficacy.