SynthesisFrontiers in psychology2021
Pre-natal Attachment and Parent-To-Infant Attachment: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The influence of attachment and relational quality on developmental outcomes across the lifespan: a systematic review and meta-analytic insights (2014-2024).Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The Role of Marital Satisfaction and Paternal Attachment in Relation to Depression During the Transition to Fatherhood: Evidence from Turkey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Preconception Learned Helplessness as a Cognitive Vulnerability to Lower Maternal Bonding Across the Perinatal Period.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Psychosocial Factors Associated with a Positive Antenatal Depression Screen: A Cross-Sectional Study of Perception of Motherhood, Attachment Style, Emotional History and Sleep Problems.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Intimate partner violence and its association with alexithymia in pregnant women from two hospitals in Cusco, Peru: an analytical cross-sectional study.Revista peruana de medicina experimental y salud publica · 2026Article
- Prenatal parental mental health and neurodevelopment in children with congenital heart disease.Pediatric research · 2026Review
- Development of the Parent-to-Infant Bonding Scale: Validation in Swedish Mothers and Fathers in Community and Clinical Contexts.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Mothers' perceptions of bonding with their newborns in different care settings: a descriptive qualitative study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- The effect of perceived stress on spousal support and paternal and maternal attachment in high-risk pregnant women: a path analysis study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Psychometric Validation of the Mother-Infant Bonding Scale in Greek Mothers up to 1 Year Postpartum.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Midwives' Contribution to the Development of the Mothers' Bond with Their Newborn.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Development and reporting of a specialised antenatal music therapy intervention using the MRC framework and TIDieR checklist.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Perinatal anxiety and compromised bond: A qualitative study of cultural scripts, structural barriers and maternal emotional negotiations in Pakistan.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- The fetus/infant - mother as a co-evolving dyadic system and the development of attachment styles: an active inference perspective.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Positive Mental Health, Anxiety and Prenatal Bonding: A Contextual Approach.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The impact of childhood maltreatment on paternal antenatal bonding: the mediating role of antenatal depression.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- The father's attachment to the fetus and related factors in late pregnancy: a longitudinal study using a path analysis model.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- The prospective association of prenatal anxiety symptoms in mothers and fathers with general child development 14 months postpartum and the mediating role of parent-child bonding: a mediation analysis within the longitudinal cohort study DREAM.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Infant/Child-Caregiver Attachment: A Scoping Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During the perinatal period, the establishment of the attachment relationship with the fetus and subsequently with the real child is crucial for the parents' and the child's well-being. Coherently with the assumption that the attachment relationship starts to develop during pregnancy, this systematic review aims to analyze and systematize studies focused on the association between pre-natal attachment and parent-to-infant attachment, in order to clarify the emerging results and provide useful information for clinical purposes. Nineteen studies were included. Sixteen researches identified a positive relationship between pre-natal attachment and parent-to-infant attachment, and three articles highlighted a negative association between antenatal attachment and post-partum bonding disorders. These results were found both in women and men, in normative and at-risk pregnancies, adopting different assessment approaches (i.e., self-report measures, observations, and projective measures). However, only small or moderate associations were found. Future studies are needed to further confirm these findings across different populations (e.g., male samples, non-normative samples or samples in disadvantaged conditions) and with different methodological approaches (e.g., observational measures). Moreover, studies would be needed in order to clarify mechanisms through which pre-natal attachment influences parent-to-infant attachment, as well as protective and risk factors which intervene between these two variables.
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Registered trials
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