Person‐environment interaction as a determinant of labor length variables

Abstract

A prospective study of 80 women, who elected home births, and 80, who chose hospital births, yielded information about combinations of psychological variables which predicted duration of the latent phase of labor, and total labor length. The results indicated that psychological factors influenced physiological outcomes in specific ways, depending upon the parturient's parity and choice of birth setting. Anxiety variables predicted at least one of the two labor length variables in both the Home and Hospital Multigravida groups, and expectations of control predicted a labor length variable in both primigravidas and multigravidas giving birth at home. Arousal seeking tendency was a predictor of a labor length variable’ in all but Home Multigravidas, but the direction of the effect depended upon the chosen birth setting.