Abstract:
The study investigated the mediator role of death obsession in the relationship between
pregnancy-related anxiety and prenatal obsessive-compulsive disorder among pregnant women
in the Capricorn district, South Africa. Two hundred and six conveniently selected respondents
completed questionnaires individually. Statistically significant associations were found between
pregnancy-related anxiety and death obsession, death obsession and prenatal obsessive-compulsive
disorder, and pregnancy-related anxiety and prenatal obsessive-compulsive disorder (ps⩽.05).
Analysis further showed that death obsession mediates the relationship between pregnancyrelated anxiety and both composite scores of a prenatal obsessive-compulsive disorder measure
(Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory–Revised) and most of its components. The findings suggest
that death obsession is a likely mediator that has to be studied further.
