Further exploration of maternal and paternal fetal attachment.
Fetal attachment of four groups of expectant parents were studied during the 24th to 34th weeks of pregnancy: 153 high-risk women hospitalized for a complication, 75 high-risk women's mates, 218 low-risk women, and 147 low-risk women's mates. No differences in fetal attachment scores were observed between high- or low-risk women or their mates; women scored significantly higher than their mates. Very little variance (7% to 14%) in fetal attachment was explained by the test of causal models except for high-risk women's mates for whom 31% of the variance was explained.
Mercer
R T
RT
Department of Family Health Care Nursing, University of California, San Francisco 94143.
Ferketich
S
S
May
K
K
DeJoseph
J
J
Sollid
D
D
D001007:Anxiety; D003863:Depression; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept; D013315:Stress, Psychological