The effect of marital adjustment on prenatal breast-feeding self- efficacy in pregnants

Aim: To study aims the effect of marital adjustment on prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy in pregnant women. Material and Method: The research was complementary. A total of 319 pregnant women at or above 28. gestational week were sampled. Personal Information Form, Marital Adjustment Scale (MAS) and Prenatal Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (PBSES) were used as data collection tools. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t test, One Way ANOVA, Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U. Results: The mean age of the pregnant women in the study was 28.34 ± 6.42. It was found that 70.8% of the pregnant women were compatible in their marriages, the age of the pregnant woman, her husband and her education, income status, duration of marriage, pregnancy, birth and number of living children, planned pregnancy status, and the effect of pregnancy on the spousal relationship affected the marital adjustment (p <0.05). The mean score of PBSES was 76.32 ± 14.61. In the study, it was found that pregnant women between 25-31 years old, university graduate, working, married between 1-5 years, whose wife is high school graduate and working, who did not give birth before, who had planned pregnancy and who had positive relationship with her husband had higher PBSE. Marital adjustment was found to have a positive effect on PBSE in pregnants (p <0.05). Conclusion: While the mean scores of PBSES were higher in the pregnant women who were compatible in their marriages, the mean scores of the non-compliant pregnant women were found to be low. Keywords: Breastfeeding, Breastfeeding Self-Adequacy, Marital Adjustment, Pregnancy