Psychological and spiritual traits in adults born via labor cesarean section

This study concerning birth investigated the adult psychological and spiritual effects of those individuals born via labor cesarean section utilizing quantitative and qualitative research methods. A labor cesarean section is defined as a cesarean section performed after the onset of labor. A demographic questionnaire, the Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised, the Spirituality Assessment Scale, and a birth questionnaire were completed by 64 adults, 57 women and 7 men. The participants, aged 18 to 58 years, were divided into 3 groups: the vaginally born (n = 20), the nonlabor cesarean born ( n = 20), and the labor cesarean born (n = 24). A comparison of the 3 birth groups data from the Symptoms Checklist-90-R and the Spirituality Assessment Scale was made using one-way analysis of variance. The qualitative data from the birth questionnaire were analyzed using a grounded theory method. The quantitative analysis revealed reduced mean scores on the Somatization (p = .043), Obsessive-Compulsive (p = .014), and Anxiety (p = .049) subscales of the Symptom Checklist-90-R as compared to the vaginally born group. A post hoc Bonferroni analysis found the difference between the 3 groups on these 3 subscales to be due to the vaginal group. However, due to the multiple comparisons of this study the experiment-wise error rate may be inflated leading to an increased chance of Type I errors. No correlation was found between labor cesarean birth and adult spirituality. The qualitative analysis (grounded theory) did not reveal any differences between the 3 birth groups. These results contradicted the work of other researchers in this field and suggested that further research is needed on the possible long-term psychological and spiritual consequences of birth.