Early assessment of psychological risk factors: On the role of husband/father during pregnancy and in the early postnatal period

Abstract

The earliest phases of the mother‐infant relationship may markedly be influenced, for better or worse, by the emotional availability of the father. In our contemporary Western societies young expectant couples are often isolated psychologically. It is suggested that if such circumstances exist and the mother also has psychological risk factors stemming from her past history and/or from her experience with the pregnancy and delivery, the husband's ability to fulfill some special mothering functions toward his wife would tip the balance between adequate coping or manifest disturbance in the mother—infant relationship.