Mothers' Representations of Their Infants Assessed Prenatally: Stability and Association with Infants' Attachment Classifications

Abstract

The stability and predictive validity of classifications of mothers' representations of their infants as determined by the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI) were examined. Concordance between mothers' representations of their infants assessed prenatally and again one year later and infant Strange Situation (SS) attachment classifications at 12 months was also examined. WMCI classifications were stable over 12 months in 80% of mothers, compared to 51% expected by chance alone. Pregnancy WMCIs predicted infant SS classifications in 74% of cases, compared to 54% expected by chance. Concordance between 11-month WMCI and 12-months SS classifications was 73% (vs. 55% expected by chance). Problems with the skewed distribution of the sample, the low concordance between pregnancy and 11 months for one of the three classifications, and future directions for research are discussed.

Women's response to fetal choroid plexus cysts detected by prenatal ultrasound

“…Both are cause for concern, given that psychological distress during pregnancy has been associated with a range of deleterious outcomes [37][38][39] and prenatal psychological attachment to the fetus has important implications for subsequent maternal attachment to and interaction with the child. 40 Consistent with our other studies of fetal development, women who participate as volunteers tend to be relatively highly educated. As a result, the primary limitation of this study is that participants who are most concerned about the diagnosis may be overrepresented in this sample; thus, we may be overestimating the magnitude of maternal negativity to CPC detection.…”

Systematic empirical investigation of vulnerability to postpartum depression from a psychodynamic perspective: Commentary on issues raised by Blum (2007).

“…In particular, they found that the relationship between pregnant women's internal working models and antenatal attachment to their infant was mediated by the future mother's representations of her own mother. Hence, from a clinical perspective, early attachment as well as current object relations both seem to express related, but not identical, aspects of internal working models Priel 1 The mediating role played by social support in the association between mothers' perceptions of early relationships and the newborn's APGAR scores suggests that mother-infant interactions might take place, on a somatic level, already before birth (Benoit et al, 1997;Priel & Besser, 2000a). Higher maternal distress levels may explain the relation of newborn's health status at birth is related to physiological concomitants of the mothers' affective state.…”

The expected child versus the actual child: implications for the mother–baby bond

“…Benoit et al 1997;Izard et al 1991). The interesting points to arise from the current study are that (i) the effect of expectations and evaluation of the infant on the mother-baby bond remained after depressed mood in pregnancy and postpartum were controlled for; (ii) that expectations were more moderately correlated with the mother-baby bond than postnatal evaluations; and (iii) that expectations of the infant as unadaptable or dull were associated with the mother-baby bond, yet expectations of the infant as fussy or unpredictable were not associated with the mother-baby bond.…”

“…There is some research evidence for this. For example, Benoit et al (1997) found that women's descriptions of their infants before birth were associated with infant security of attachment after birth. This finding implies that women's expectations of the infant during pregnancy can affect infant attachment security after birth.…”