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Researchers seek feedback from first time mothers-to-be
Fashion magazines and newspapers that do acknowledge pregnancy tend to focus firmly on celebrity mothers-to-be, in particular, their still slender and almost "perfect" appearance during pregnancy and their ability to rapidly lose their baby weight after the birth. This suggest a difference between the bodily changes experienced by the majority of women during pregnancy and the expectations they may have given the media and celebrity culture. Whilst women tend to accept that their own pregnancy experience may not mirror what they read in popular magazines, the pressure is still there to "measure up".
In a follow-up study, the Psychology research team, led by PhD student, Nova Deighton-Smith, spoke to first-time, pregnant mothers-to-be who also said that whilst they experienced the elation of becoming pregnant, their first trimester was a rather troubling time when thinking about their appearance. For example, many of the women had not yet announced their pregnancy to friends or colleagues; however the changes in the shape of their bodies and early weight gain made the decision to either 'conceal' or 'reveal' their pregnancy a challenging one.
Following this study, the team now seeks to gather data from a greater number of women to be able to explore their attitudes to the social and cultural expectations about appearance and to explore the relationships between body image and a wide range of psychological, physical health and lifestyle factors.
Nova said: "We are inviting women who are currently pregnant for the first time to take part in an online survey, which takes approximately 60 minutes to complete. The survey asks about background information as well as assessing a range of psychological factors and lifestyle behaviours. For the most part, we are interested to hear how women think and feel about their bodies and appearance in pregnancy, as this seems to be an area which is often overlooked."
In order to take part, women must be aged 18 years or over and must be first-time pregnant, mothers-to-be. Volunteers will be given the opportunity to enter a prize draw of £100 worth of High Street Gift Vouchers upon completion of the questionnaire. All responses are both confidential and anonymous. Interested participants are asked to email pregnancysurvey@leedsmet.ac.uk where the survey link and full information about the study will be provided via email.