The Influence of Psychological Resilience on Perceived Stress in High-Risk Pregnant Women: The Mediating Role of Positive Coping

Background: High-risk pregnant women face more challenges during pregnancy and postpartum than low-risk pregnant women. This study aims to explore whether different coping strategies among high-risk pregnant women affect their perceived stress levels. Objective: To understand the status of perceived stress in high-risk pregnancy (HRP) women and explore the mediating role of coping styles between psychological resilience and perceived stress. Methods: A convenience sample of 331 high-risk pregnant women from a Grade A tertiary hospital in Guangzhou was surveyed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25), the Simple Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). Results: The median total perceived stress score for high-risk pregnant women was 26.03 (23.0, 30.0); the median total psychological resilience score was 63.02 (55.0, 71.0). For coping styles, the positive coping score was 2.07 (1.75, 2.42), and the negative coping score was 1.28 (0.88, 1.63). Psychological resilience was negatively correlated with perceived stress (P < 0.05) and positively correlated with positive coping (P < 0.05); positive coping was negatively correlated with perceived stress (P < 0.05). Positive coping was a mediator between psychological resilience and perceived stress (effect value: -0.025), accounting for 14.22% of the total effect. Conclusion: Psychological resilience in high-risk pregnant women can influence perceived stress through positive coping. Healthcare workers should pay more attention to high-risk pregnant women with low psychological resilience in their daily work and guide patients to adopt positive coping styles to reduce their perceived stress.