Resilience of expectant mothers and order of pregnancy as moderators of mother-fetal attachment
Paulina Pawlicka
Uniwersytet GdańskiMagdalena Chrzan-Dętkoś
Uniwersytet GdańskiKarolina Lutkiewicz
Uniwersytet GdańskiAbstract
Resilience understood as mental strength and resourcefulness of life is also important during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. The level of resilience can decide how the expectant mother will perceive the process of pregnancy, childbirth and all difficulties related to this time and thereby establish bond with her child. This bond is formed during the prenatal period and is extremely important for the proper development, as the quality of attachment in pregnancy is related to the quality of attachment after childbirth.
The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship of psychological resilience of mothers and their sense of bond with the unborn child, taking into account three variables, significant for the perception of pregnancy and building the mother-child attachment during this period: the order of pregnancy (first or subsequent), experiencing difficulties with conceiving and the level of perceived support from a partner and other loved ones.
The study involved 89 women in the third trimester of pregnancy. 73% of the first pregnancy, while 27% of the subsequent (second or third) pregnancy. 24.5% of women surveyed by us experienced trouble with conceiving. The women completed the questionnaire Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale and the Scale of Resilience, as well as a questionnaire about the course of the current pregnancy, the subjective sense of support from loved ones and a personal sense of preparation for the impending birth.
Results: Resilience proved to be a significant factor in creating a bond with the unborn child, but different aspects of it have proven to be important for women who are pregnant for the first and subsequent time. The feeling of support from loved ones is important in mother-fetal attachment, however solely for women in their first, not second or third pregnancy. In addition, women who have experienced difficulty with conceiving, compared with women who did not experience such difficulties, developed more intense attachment with their yet unborn child and created stronger mental representation of the child. The results of the study revealed a different psychological experience of pregnancy, depending on whether it is first or subsequent, as well as the necessity of taking into account the history of any difficulties with conceiving in the analysis of the mother-fetal attachment.
Keywords:
mother-fetal attachment, resilience, first/subsequent pregnancy, mental representation of a child in pregnancyReferences
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