ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2014
Investigating attachment, caregiving, and mental health: a model of maternal-fetal relationships.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systemic review of maternal wellbeing and its relationship with maternal fetal attachment and early postpartum bonding.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Prevalence and correlates of maternal early stimulation behaviors during pregnancy in northern Ghana: a cross-sectional survey.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Associations between fetal movement and maternal-fetal attachment in late pregnancy.Early human development · 2025Article
- Postpartum-Specific Anxiety and Maternal-Infant Bonding: A Predictive Validity Study amongst Italian Women.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2024Article
- Design and Validation of an Instrument for the Evaluation of the Quality of Mother-Child Bond and Attachment: "Cuestionario Vínculo y Apego Materno-Filial" (VAMF Questionnaire).Journal of nursing management · 2024Article
- High care and low overprotection from both paternal and maternal parents predict a secure attachment style with a partner among perinatal Japanese women.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Becoming Dad: Expectant Fathers' Attachment Style and Prenatal Representations of the Unborn Child.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The mediating role of prenatal depression in adult attachment and maternal-fetal attachment in primigravida in the third trimester.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Article
- Selected predictors of maternal-fetal attachment in pregnancies with congenital disorders, other complications, and in healthy pregnancies.Health psychology report · 2021Article
- Effect of attachment-based interventions on prenatal attachment: a protocol for systematic review.Reproductive health · 2019Article
- A Comprehensive Analysis of Post-partum Depression Risk Factors: The Role of Socio-Demographic, Individual, Relational, and Delivery Characteristics.Frontiers in public health · 2019Article
- Maternal-fetal emotional relationship during pregnancy, its related factors and outcomes in Iranian pregnant women: a panel study protocol.Reproductive health · 2018Article
- Examining the mechanisms by which women's status and empowerment affect skilled birth attendant use in Senegal: a structural equation modeling approach.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2017Article
- Antecedents of maternal parenting stress: the role of attachment style, prenatal attachment, and dyadic adjustment in first-time mothers.Frontiers in psychology · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMaternal-fetal relationships have been associated with psychosocial outcomes for women and children, but there has been a lack of conceptual clarity about the nature of the maternal relationship with the unborn child, and inconsistent findings assessing its predictors. We proposed and tested a model whereby maternal-fetal relationship quality was predicted by factors relating to the quality of the couple relationship and psychological health. We hypothesized that the contribution of individual differences in romantic attachment shown in past research would be mediated by romantic caregiving responsiveness, as maternal-fetal relationships reflect the beginnings of the caregiving system.
methods258 women in pregnancy (13, 23, and 33-weeks gestation) completed online measures of attachment to partner, caregiving responsiveness to partner, mental health, and thoughts about their unborn baby. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model of maternal-fetal relationships.
resultsMaternal-fetal relationship quality was higher for women at 23-weeks than 13-weeks gestation. Women in first pregnancies had higher self-reported scores of psychological functioning and quality of maternal-fetal relationships than women in subsequent pregnancies. Structural equation models indicated that the quality of the maternal-fetal relationship was best predicted by romantic caregiving responsiveness to partner and women's own psychological health, and that the association between adult romantic attachment avoidance and maternal-fetal relationships was fully mediated by caregiving responsiveness to partner, even after controlling for other factors. These data support the hypothesis that maternal-fetal relationships better reflect the operation of the caregiving system than the care-seeking (i.e., attachment) system.
conclusionsModels of maternal-fetal relationships and interventions with couples should consider the role of caregiving styles of mothers to partners and the relationship between expectant parents alongside other known predictors, particularly psychological health.
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