title: Side preference in women and men when holding their newborn child: psychological background.
abstract: In a prospective study 81 randomly selected parents awaiting their first baby were interviewed early during pregnancy and again during the week after delivery. About 80% of the women and their partners were found to hold their child to the left, and 20% to the right, irrespective of handedness. There was no relation between side preference in child holding in the couples. Common to both sexes is the trend that left-holders are more attached to and identified with the parent of their own sex whereas right-holders are more attached to and identified with the parent of the opposite sex. Right-holders have also more often had mental symptoms prior to pregnancy and were concerned about the pregnancy, delivery and health of the child at birth.
mesh_terms: D003075:Coitus; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy