Antenatal depression and maternal-fetal attachment.
BACKGROUND
In recent years, attention has been turned to maternal mental health in relation to the mother-child relationship accompanying a widening in focus, i.e. taking into account not only the puerperium, but also the stage of pregnancy. This applies to studies that have revealed a connection between depression and maternal attachment in the postpartum period and late pregnancy. This study, however, was designed to evaluate the maternal-fetal relationship in the first and second trimesters, being the first one to address this issue in these early stages.


METHODS
Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS), the original Antenatal Maternal Attachment Scale (AMAS), and a questionnaire addressing peripheral factors were given to 216 pregnant women (3-6 months of gestation) who visited the Nagoya University Hospital between September 1998 and June 2001.


RESULTS
Contrary to reports on the latter stages of pregnancy, no direct association was observed between depression in mothers and maternal-fetal attachment before fetal movement was perceived.


CONCLUSIONS
However, education, form of employment, planning of pregnancy, and premenstrual mood changes were found to be associated with the ZSDS score (mean: 41.9), while form of employment, feelings regarding pregnancy, and sources of support were extracted as factors associated with the AMAS, which are of interest in terms of the subsequent association between depression and maternal-fetal attachment in the peri- and postnatal periods.
Honjo
Shuji
S
Nagoya University Center for Developmental Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, Nagoya, Japan. e43195a@nucc.cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Arai
Shiori
S
Kaneko
Hitoshi
H
Ujiie
Tatsuo
T
Murase
Satomi
S
Sechiyama
Haya
H
Sasaki
Yasuko
Y
Hatagaki
Chie
C
Inagaki
Eri
E
Usui
Motoko
M
Miwa
Kikuko
K
Ishihara
Michie
M
Hashimoto
Ohiko
O
Nomura
Kenji
K
Itakura
Atsuo
A
Inoko
Kayo
K
D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033261:Maternal-Fetal Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires