ArticleArchives of gynecology and obstetrics2020
Maternal-fetal attachment protects against postpartum anxiety: the mediating role of postpartum bonding and partnership satisfaction.
Article in Archives of gynecology and obstetrics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pre-natal Attachment and Parent-To-Infant Attachment: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of Fetal Images Produced in Virtual Reality on Maternal-Fetal Attachment: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Tracing the developmental arc of matrescence: a phenomenological study of urban Indian mothers.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- Fetal attachment and infant temperament: The mediating role of perinatal mental health.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- Maternal-fetal attachment trajectories in IVF mothers during the first trimester: a prospective observational study.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2026Observational
- Positive Mental Health, Anxiety and Prenatal Bonding: A Contextual Approach.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effect of performing daily fetal movement count on maternal-fetal attachment level among low risk primigravida - A randomised controlled trial.Journal of education and health promotion · 2025Article
- Current policy and practice for the identification, management, and treatment of postpartum anxiety in the United Kingdom: a focus group study.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Explaining maternal antenatal attachment by psychological, clinical and sociodemographic factors: a path analysis study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Associations of stress, anxiety, and partner satisfaction with maternal-fetal attachment in women pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Postpartum Maternal Mental Health.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Article
- The role of pregnancy acceptability in maternal mental health and bonding during pregnancy.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
- Postpartum bonding and association with depressive symptoms and prenatal attachment in women with fear of birth.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
- Psychological health of pregnant and postpartum women before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic.PloS one · 2022Article
- Pregnancy intendedness, maternal-fetal bonding, and postnatal maternal-infant bonding.Infant mental health journal · 2021Article
- Prenatal Depression in Women in the Third Trimester: Prevalence, Predictive Factors, and Relationship With Maternal-Fetal Attachment.Frontiers in public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeMaternal mental disorders develop frequently during the perinatal period, and can have detrimental effects on the developing bond between a mother and her child. While depression has already been widely associated with bonding disorders, the link between anxiety disorders and maternal-fetal attachment has received only limited attention. This study aimed to explore the link between maternal-fetal attachment in the third trimester and postpartum anxiety, as previous research has suggested a potentially protective association. Additionally, we hypothesized a mediating influence of postpartum bonding and partnership satisfaction as additional measurements of attachment capacity.
methodsSelf-report questionnaires assessing maternal-fetal attachment, postpartum bonding, anxiety, depression, and partnership quality were completed at three time points: third trimester (T1, N = 324), first week postpartum (T2, N = 249), and 4 months postpartum (T3, N = 166). Conditional process analyses were used to test for mediation.
resultsA statistically significant negative correlation of maternal-fetal attachment was found with maternal anxiety postpartum. Overall, the analyses supported the mediation hypothesis. There was a significant, indirect effect of maternal-fetal attachment during pregnancy on state anxiety in the first week postpartum, mediated through postpartum bonding quality and partnership satisfaction. All three variables together accounted for 18.25% (state anxiety) or 30.35% (trait anxiety) of the variance in postpartum anxiety.
conclusionsOur results showed that a close maternal-fetal attachment buffers postpartum symptoms of anxiety, partially mediated through postpartum bonding and partnership satisfaction. Therefore, strengthening the maternal-fetal attachment and the partnership during pregnancy has the potential to reduce maternal postpartum symptoms of anxiety.
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