Premium
Relationships Among Prenatal Maternal Attachment, Presence of Postnatal Depressive Symptoms, and Maternal Role Attainment
Author(s) -
Fowles Eileen R.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal for specialists in pediatric nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1744-6155
pISSN - 1539-0136
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-6155.1996.tb00004.x
Subject(s) - childbirth , edinburgh postnatal depression scale , pregnancy , educational attainment , psychology , competence (human resources) , depressive symptoms , developmental psychology , medicine , longitudinal study , obstetrics , clinical psychology , psychiatry , cognition , social psychology , genetics , pathology , economics , biology , economic growth
purpose . To examine the relationships among a woman's attachment to her fetus, the presence of postpartum depressive symptoms, and subsequent perceptions of maternal role attainment three months after birth design . A longitudinal, panel design setting . Hospital‐sponsored childbirth education classes participants . Primiparous women (N = 136) at 24–40 weeks of pregnancy and 9–14 weeks after the birth main outcome measures . Perceived Competence Scale, Myself as Mother Scale, and My Baby Scale results . Prenatal maternal attachment was positively related to maternal role attainment but not to postpartum depressive symptoms. Postpartum depression was negatively related to maternal role attainment. conclusions . These findings enhance maternal identity theory and provide a means to evaluate the transition to motherhood.