PRENATAL ATTACHMENT IN A CONTEXT OF EXPERIENCE OF THE FAMILY OF ORIGIN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19090/pp.2018.1.53-67Keywords:
prenatal attachment, experience from the family of origin, mental representations of parenthoodAbstract
Prenatal attachment is described as a psychological bond that develops during pregnancy from mother to a fetus. Its importance is reflected in the quality of expectant mothers’ care for the fetus, and it is believed that it is the precursor of the development of emotional attachment between a mother and a child, an important aspect of parental identity formation and preparation for responsible and competent parenting. Studies suggest that the patterns that form the parental identity are transmitted through experiences that are internalized and form internal working model whose components make parental representation. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine the predictive contribution of experience from the family of origin on the development of prenatal attachment. The sample included 91 pregnant women, inpatients from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Novi Sad, who were hospitalized because of certain health problems during pregnancy. For testing prenatal attachment the Prenatal attachment scale (SPMPV: Hanak, 2009), was used while as a measure of an experience in family of origin a modified Father presence questionnaire (FPQ: Krampe & Newton, 2006) was employed. The results suggests that relationship with one’s own mother has a significant contribution in predicting prenatal attachment. Such resuts are in line with previous research findings that charachteristics of parental behavior are related with experiences with one’s own parents. Those results could reflect the fact that mothers were seen as dominat caregivers in our sample. Also, modeling can play a role in transgenerational transmission of parentning.
Metrics
References
Benoit, D., Parker, K. C. H., & Zeanah, C. H. (1997). Mothers representation of their infants assessed prenatally: Stability and association with infants attachment classification. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 307−313. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01515.x
Brandon, A., Pitts, S., Denton, W., Stringer, A., & Evans, H. M. (2009). A history of the theory of prenatal attachment. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health, 23, 201−222.
Doan, H. McK., & Zimerman, A. (2008). Prenatal attachment: A developmental model. International Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine, 20, 20−28.
Dunn, J., Davies, L., O`Conor, T., & Sturgess, W. (2000). Parents` and partners` life course and family experiences: Links with parent-child relations in different family settings. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 955−968. doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00684
Dykes, K., & Stjerquist, K. (2001) The importance of ultrasound to first-time mothers' thoughts about their unborn child. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 19, 95−110. doi:10.1080/02646830123343
Feldman, J. B. (2007). The effect of support expectations on prenatal attachment: An evidence-based approach for intervention in an adolescent population. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 24, 209−234. doi:10.1007/s10560-007-0082-0
Fonagy, P., Steele, H., & Steele, M. (1991). Representation of attachment during pregnancy predict the organization of infant-mother attachment at one year of age. Child Development, 62, 891−905. doi:10.2307/131141
Gau, M., & Lee, T. (2003). Construct validity of the prenatal attachment inventory: A confirmatory factor analysis approach. Journal of Nursing Research, 11, 177−186.
George, C., & Solomon, J. (2008). The caregiving system: A behavioral systems approach to parenting In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment (pp. 833−856). New York: The Guilford Press.
Hadžić, A., Veselić, N., & Jojić, D. (2016). Relations between attachment and maternal prenatal attachment, pregnant women with healty and high-risk pregnancies. 12th Conference Days of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Serbia.
Hanak, N. (2007). Prenatalna vezanost kao aspekt pripreme za roditeljstvo. U N. Hanak i A. Dimitrijević (Ur.), Afektivno vezivanje: teorija, istraživanja, psihoterapija (str. 149−166). Beograd: Fakultet za specijalnu edukaciju i rehabilitaciju.
Hanak, N. (2009). Procena materinske prenatalne veazanosti. U M. Zotović, J. Petrović i I. Mihić (Ur.), Psihološka procena porodice: Mogućnosti i ograničenja (str. 8−21). Novi Sad: Filozofski fakultet.
Hanak, N. (2010). Činioci koji utiču na emocionalnu vezanost trudnica za fetus (doktorska disertacija). Filozofski fakultet, Univerzitet u Beogradu, Srbija.
Hanak, N. (2012). Prenatalna vezanost i psihološki procesi tokom trudnoće: Priprema za roditeljstvo. U T. Stefanović Stanojević, I. Mihić i N. Hanak (Ur.), Afektivna vezanost i porodični odnosi: razvoj i značaj (str. 57−80). Beograd: Centar za primenjenu psihologiju.
Hawk, C., & Holden, G. (2006). Meta-parenting: An initial investigation into a new parental social cognition construct. Parenting: Science and Practice, 6, 21−42. doi:10.1207/s15327922par0604_3
Huth Bocks, A., Levendosky, A., Bogat, A., & Von Eye, A. (2004). The impact of maternal charachteristics and contextual variables on infant-mother attachment. Child Development, 75, 480−496. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00688.x
Krampe, E., & Newton, R. (2006). The father presence questionnaire: a new measure of subjective experience of being fathered. Fathering, 4, 159−190. doi:10.3149/fth.0402.159
Laxton Kane, M., & Slade, P. (2002). The role of maternal prenatal attachment in a woman’s experience of pregnancy and implication for the process of care. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 20, 253−266. doi:10.1080/0264683021000033174
Lindgren, K. (2001). Relationships among maternal-fetal attachment, prenatal depression and health practices in pregnancy. Research in Nursing and Health, 24, 203¬−217. doi:10.1002/nur.1023
Mayseless, O. (2006). Parenting representations. New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CB09780511499869
Mihić, I. (2010). Činioci uključenosti oca u brigu o detetu (doktorska disertacija). Filozofski fakultet, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu, Srbija.
Nicholson, J., Howard, K., & Borkowski, J. (2008). Mental models for parenting: Correlates of meta-parenting among fathers of young children. Fathering, 6, 39−61. doi:10.3149/fth.0601.39
Parke, R. (2002). Fathers and families. In M. Bornstein (Ed), Handbook of Parenting, vol 3, Being and Becoming a Parent (pp. 27−74). Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Pleck, E. (2004). Two dimensions of fatherhood: The history of “good dad−bad dad” complex. In M. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (pp. 32−57). New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Priel, B., & Besser, A. (2000). Adult attachment styles, early relationships, antenatal attachment and percptions of infant temperament: A study of first-time mothers. Personal Relationships, 7, 291−310. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2000.tb00018.x
Raval, V., Goldberg, S., Atkinson, L., Benoit, D., Myhal, N., Poulton, L., & Zwiers, M. (2001). Maternal attachment, maternal reponsiveness and infant attachment. Infant Behavior and Development, 24, 281−304. doi:10.1016/S0163-6383(01)00082-0
Stern, D. (1995). The Motherhood constellation. A unified view of parent-infant psychotherapy. New York: Basic books.
Zimerman, A. (2003). Prenatal attachment, empathy and cognitive adaptation to pregnancy subsequent to having a child with Down’s syndrome. Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 10, 141−149.
