Trãirea si reprezentarea socialã a nasterii: Perspectivã comparativã

Two are the stakes that have been imposed on the current study by the limited occurrence of psychological research on birth in Romanian literature: a theoretical synthesis on the differences in intercultural perception of birth and an empirical approach centred on birth experience and birth representation to Romanians and Romanies. Free association, Survey intended to representation identification and State-trait anxiety inventory (STAI) have been the methods used to collect information from the 210 subjects, 179 Romanian women and 131 Romani women, hospitalised in order to deliver at Iasi maternity hospitals. Research hypotheses started from birth-related rites, subordinated to antagonistic notions tradition-modernity. Subsequent results brought about a partial confirmation of hypotheses: although there are significant differences on affective scale between the two categories of the group, these can no longer be detected on the cognitive-behavioural level of representation.