High income women’s efficacy beliefs were mostly
positive, and but some were negative. Women believed
they could soothe cravings and avoid eating unhealthfully,
‘‘Now that I’m pregnant, my body needs other things. I’ve
had to kind of follow those cravings, but I try to do it in a
healthful way.’’ Similarly, women talked about being able
to control food consumption and therefore weight gain
during certain periods of pregnancy which balanced out
periods with less control, ‘‘I remember I had the urge to eat.
At one point I was almost in tears. I just wanted this to go
away. I tried to eat gum. Eventually it went away. There
were a couple of days when you don’t even want food so it
balances out.’’