Dubber, S. Subscales of mother-to-infant bonding instruments e.

One included article described two different included studies. Our finding that mother-to-infant bonding quality earlier in pregnancy or in the postpartum period is positively associated with mother-to-infant bonding quality later in time, both prenatally and postnatally, is not surprising. New York: Guilford. Zimet, G. J Reprod Infant Psychol. Journal of Marriage and Family , 70 5 , — Laxton-Kane, M. Higher antenatal bonding predicted higher postnatal bonding at all pregnancy time-points in a fully adjusted regression model. Our study shows that this conclusion might concern postnatal mother-to-infant bonding as well.

Supposing the reason is a lack of sweetness in the 3D ultrasound Campbell hoped for improvements with higher technology in the 4D ultrasound. Maternal—fetal attachment: an integrative review. An implication of our finding is that monitoring of bonding should start already during pregnancy. Dayton, C. ADHD and attachment processes: are they related? Prenatal involvement on later paternal engagement. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review examining correlates of both prenatal and postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality in the general population. Carlson, M.

Partner-related correlates referred to correlates that solely concerned the partner e. Trauma exposure and stress-related disorders in inner city primary care patients. Walsh, T. Informed Consent Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Correspondence to Carolyn Joy Dayton. Committee on Obstetric Practice. The role of the father in child development. Vreeswijk, C. Does maternal prenatal attachment predict postnatal mother—infant interaction?

Bonding: Building the foundations of secure attachment and independence. Raphael-Leff, J. PLoS One. Res Nurs Health. Postpartum depression effects on early interactions, parenting, and safety practices: a review. Spanier GB. Obstet Gynecol. A meta-analytic study of predictors of maternal-fetal attachment.

About this article. J Nerv Ment Dis. References 1. Zeanah, C. Wed Conclusions Findings of our systematic review support the theory that mother-to-infant bonding is a process that starts during pregnancy and continues postnatally. Connecting the dots: an overview of the links among multiple forms of violence. The emotional bond that a mother feels towards her baby is critical to social, emotional and cognitive development. To prevent these unfavourable outcomes, strategies to strengthen mother-to-infant bonding quality are required.

Maternal sensitivity to infant distress and nondistress as predictors of infant-mother attachment security. Jessup found that parental caregiving motivates mothers to recover from substance use disorders Jessup, In some studies, multiple analysis were performed e. ADHD and attachment processes: are they related? Laxton-Kane M, Slade P. Boryri et al. Correlates Demographic Demographic correlates were found to be associated with pre- and postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality in only a few studies. Fuller JR. It has been found that episodes of pre-pregnancy depression is related to the trajectory of depressive symptoms during pregnancy [ 52 ].

Hüther, G. Continuous feelings of love? Role identity, role investments, and paternal involvement: Implications for parenting programs for men. A review of scales to measure the mother—foetus relationship. Collected works I and II: The treatment of birth trauma in infants and children and pre- and perinatal regression therapy. In accordance with previous systematic reviews, we found consistent evidence for an association between duration of gestation at assessment and mother-to-infant bonding quality; as pregnancy progresses, mother-to-infant bonding quality increases [ 19 , 20 ]. Dubber, S. Early patterns of maternal attachment. For this purpose, some scores were reversed accordingly.

High regard also motivates enhanced caregiving behavior. Depression was operationalized in a variety of ways: In some studies, women were diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria. Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity? Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology , 29 3 , — Interventions aimed at depressive symptoms, which were negatively associated with postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality in the vast majority of studies, might help to improve mother-to-infant bonding. Carlson, M. In total articles met our inclusion criteria, of which 28 were identified through reference checks. Methodological quality was assessed using the National Institute of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-sectional studies and was rated accordingly as poor, fair or good. Jessup found that parental caregiving motivates mothers to recover from substance use disorders Jessup, Associations between maternal-foetal attachment and infant developmental outcomes: a systematic review.

Less sensitive, and poorer maternal parenting, in turn, has been linked to insecure attachment [ 12 ], depression [ 13 — 16 ], and anxiety in children [ 13 ]. The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Lindgren, K. A meta-analytic study of predictors of maternal-fetal attachment. Tsujino, J. Continuous feelings of love? The Parent Educators support parents need for a small group to optimize their learning and bonding with each other and preparing to birth their babies. Published online Sep Ethics declarations Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Van den Bergh B, Simons A. The psychology and psychopathology of pregnancy. Journal of Affective Disorders , 1 , 44— Depression in young adolescents: investigations using 2 and 3 factor versions of the Parental Bonding Instrument. Warning message This content is filtered. Green, B. Continuous feelings of love? To enhance the quality of our systematic review and to enhance the transparency of our approach, we followed the PRISMA statement [ 27 ] for reporting our systematic review, and a study protocol was published beforehand in Prospero. Sat

An overview of these correlates, and whether they were found to be associated with mother-to-infant bonding quality, can be found in Table 1. Infant Mental Health Journal , 31 2 , — Reference checks were performed. Katriina Heikkila, Editor. In: Krens, I. Jussila, H. None of the partner-related correlates e. Health Technol Assess Rockv. Explaining the long reach of fathers? Child-related The vast majority of studies that examined gender of the baby did not find an association with postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality 9 of 11 studies.

London: Chapman and Hall; Objective To systematically review correlates of prenatal and postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality in the general population, in order to enable targeted interventions. Infant Behav Dev. A third limitation might be that we only included published studies, and therefore there might have been publication bias [ 58 ] which we were not able to assess because we only conducted a narrative synthesis. Prenatal attachment in Swedish IVF fathers and controls. Clinical and methodological heterogeneity were examined. Time of measuring mother-to-infant bonding varied from the first trimester of pregnancy to 24 months postpartum. Because of the great heterogeneity in measures used for mother-to-infant bonding, operationalization of correlates, time of measuring correlates and outcomes, and analyses performed, data were not suitable for meta-analysis and we therefore summarized them narratively [ 30 ]. Siddiqui A, Hägglöf B. Cranley, M.

Discussion Main findings Among correlates of mother-to-infant bonding quality identified in this systematic review, 3 correlates 2 psychosocial and 1 reproduction-related were consistently associated with mother-to-infant bonding quality: 1 prenatal mother-to-infant bonding quality was positively associated with duration of gestation at its assessment, 2 depressive symptoms were negatively associated with postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality, and 3 mother-to-infant bonding quality earlier in pregnancy or in the postpartum period was positively associated with mother-to-infant bonding quality at later time points both prenatal and postnatal. Bouchard, G. Journal of Affective Disorders , 1 , 44— Download references. Whether interventions aimed at reducing depressive symptoms might help to improve mother-to-infant bonding quality should be established in clinical trials. The psychology and psychopathology of pregnancy. Correlates Demographic Demographic correlates were found to be associated with pre- and postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality in only a few studies. Giessen, Germany: Psychosozial-Verlag. Clinical and methodological heterogeneity of the studies were assessed as stipulated in the protocol.

Bielawska-Batorowicz, E. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology , 20 4 , — Infant Mental Health Journal , 31 2 , — Psychological processes of childbearing. Breslau, N. Development of a tool for the measurement of maternal attachment during pregnancy. Optimale moeder-kind binding: een systematische review Optimal mother-to-infant bonding: a systematic review of prenatal interventions. Twins: From fetus to child. Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory. The Parent Educators support parents need for a small group to optimize their learning and bonding with each other and preparing to birth their babies.

Attachment and Human Development , 16 3 , — Dennis C-L. For clinical practice, this implies that a mother-to-infant bonding instrument to distinguish between disturbed and non-disturbed prenatal mother-to-infant bonding should take duration of gestation at assessment into account. The Parent Educators support parents need for a small group to optimize their learning and bonding with each other and preparing to birth their babies. Publication Date:. J Pers Assess. Continuous feelings of love? Infant Mental Health Journal , 31 2 , — Birth-related, psychosocial, and emotional correlates of positive maternal—infant bonding in a cohort of first-time mothers. Infant Mental Health Journal , 31 4 , —

Provider Tips. The British Journal of Psychiatry , 6 , — The famous researcher on attachment, JT Condon, found adverse factors reducing bonding behaviors were depression, lack of social support and a domineering partner. The vast majority of studies that examined gender of the baby did not find an association with postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality 9 of 11 studies. Page Count:. Boryri et al. ADHD and attachment processes: are they related? Principles and practice of structural equation modeling.

Intergenerational transmission of abuse: implications for parenting interventions from a neuropsychological perspective. A meta-analytic study of predictors of maternal-fetal attachment. Cox, J. Maternal health and wellbeing through pregnancy and antenatal bonding also play a key role in determining bonding postnatally, but the extent to which these relationships may be disrupted by poor mental health or substance use is unclear. Jallo, N. J Nerv Ment Dis. Muller, M. Spielberger, C. Further Reading:. J Reprod Infant Psychol.

References: Boryri, T. About half of these studies showed that a higher educational level, working or studying and a higher income level were associated with higher mother-to-infant bonding quality, while the other half of the associations showed the opposite e. To get a full picture of all possible correlates, we used broad search terms and did not put a limitation on the publication date. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology , 24 1 , 21— Findings of our systematic review support the theory that mother-to-infant bonding is a process that starts during pregnancy and continues postnatally. Causes and correlates of prison inmate misconduct: A systematic review of the evidence. Kamalifard, M. Supposing the reason is a lack of sweetness in the 3D ultrasound Campbell hoped for improvements with higher technology in the 4D ultrasound.

Published online Sep Does maternal prenatal attachment predict postnatal mother—infant interaction? An earlier finding by Ji and Pretorius showed improvement of bonding as the ultrasound image of the baby improved. When the belly is painted or illustrated with henna or a non-toxic marker the visual representation of the baby ignites pride in the presence of the baby. J Adv Nurs. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health , 17 1 , 63— Towards a new psychotherapeutic approach of schizophrenia. The role of psychosocial variables in prenatal attachment: an examination of moderational effects. ADHD and attachment processes: are they related?

Journal of Marriage and Family , 63 , — The other 8 studies found both negative and no associations, depending on measures used, timing of measures, and type of analysis applied. An unplanned pregnancy, however, does not necessarily prevent the development of positive feelings towards the child, as un unplanned pregnancy can still be desired. To prevent these unfavourable outcomes, strategies to strengthen mother-to-infant bonding quality are required. Defining the caregiving system: toward a theory of caregiving. Four studies found negative associations between level of general anxiety and postnatal bonding quality, 1 study found a positive association with postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality. The funding organizations had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, in writing of the paper, or in the decision to submit the paper for publication. Future research should evaluate whether interventions aimed at depressive symptoms help to promote mother-to-infant bonding quality. Some limitations should be taken into account when interpreting our findings. Some studies 4 of 10 examining the mode of birth showed that women who had a vaginal delivery had higher mother-to-infant bonding quality than women who had a cesarean section or elective labor induction.

New York: Guilford Press. Child Dev. Duration of gestation at assessment. Infant Behavior and Development, 55, Bowlby, J. Estimated prevalence of antenatal depression in the US population. Giessen, Germany: Psychosozial-Verlag. Condon, J.

Criminal victimization, The role of perceived family social support and parental solicitous responses in adjustment to bothersome pain in young people with physical disabilities. Pränatale Einflüsse auf die Hirnentwicklung Prenatal influences on brain development. Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Traumatology , 19 2 , — Maternal-fetal attachment: an integrative review. Early patterns of maternal attachment. A provider, doula, or childbirth educator can ask the specially arranged questions that the pregnant parent s can feel their belly and tell the provider the answer.

Early Childhood Research Quarterly , 12 2 , — New York: Guilford. A review of nursing interventions to foster becoming a mother. Cambridge: Da Capo Press; For mothers, psychological distress was significantly associated with maternal-fetal bonding. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology , 20 4 , — Sat As Yarcheski concludes, demographic factors do not seem to be important for clinical practice regarding prenatal mother-to-infant bonding [ 20 ]. One included article described two different included studies.

The list of mother-to-infant bonding instruments was composed by scanning the first papers that resulted from combining search terms 1 and 2 described above. Duration of gestation at assessment. Conclusions Findings suggest that interventions to enhance parent-fetal bonding should target separate factors for mothers and fathers. Jussila, H. The parental bond from pregnancy to toddlerhood. Alhusen, J. Thu J Marriage Fam. Women and Birth.

Intergenerational transmission of trauma: exploring mother—infant prenatal attachment. Green, B. Journal of Affective Disorders , 64 , — Correlations were weak or moderate. Strengths and limitations To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review examining correlates of both prenatal and postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality in the general population. Cohen J. High regard also motivates enhanced caregiving behavior. Van den Bergh B, Simons A. Mother-to-infant bonding, unlike attachment, is unidirectional from mother to child and starts to develop already during pregnancy, after which it further develops until early childhood [ 1 , 4 , 5 ]. Morgan, R.

Cranley MS. Causes and correlates of prison inmate misconduct: A systematic review of the evidence. About half of these studies showed that a higher educational level, working or studying and a higher income level were associated with higher mother-to-infant bonding quality, while the other half of the associations showed the opposite e. Dev Psychopathol. Jessup found that parental caregiving motivates mothers to recover from substance use disorders Jessup, Van Bussel, J. Role identity, role investments, and paternal involvement: Implications for parenting programs for men. Early patterns of maternal attachment. Estimated prevalence of antenatal depression in the US population. Quality of partner relationship.

Our review suggests that professionals involved in maternal health care should consider monitoring mother-to-infant bonding already during pregnancy. Partner-related and child-related factors were not discussed in previous reviews [ 19 — 22 ], and except for gender of the child, these were examined in only a few studies, making inferences difficult. Cannella, B. Palkovitz, R. The parental bond from pregnancy to toddlerhood. National Institutes of Health; U. An up-to-date systematic review of these correlates is lacking, however. Two investigators independently reviewed abstracts, full-text articles and extracted data. Time of measuring mother-to-infant bonding varied from the first trimester of pregnancy to 24 months postpartum. Luz, R.

PDF Click here for additional data file. Reproduction-related Duration of gestation at assessment was positively associated with mother-to-infant bonding quality in the vast majority of studies 17 of 23 studies. Less sensitive, and poorer maternal parenting, in turn, has been linked to insecure attachment [ 12 ], depression [ 13 — 16 ], and anxiety in children [ 13 ]. Bonding: Building the foundations of secure attachment and independence. Four studies found negative associations between level of general anxiety and postnatal bonding quality, 1 study found a positive association with postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality. Infant-parent attachment: Definition, types, antecedents, measurement and outcome. J Child Fam Stud 28, — Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads. The role of oxytocin in early mother-infant interactions: Variations in maternal affect attunement. Paediatr Child Health.

Childhood trauma questionnaire: a retrospective self-report. The funding organizations had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, in writing of the paper, or in the decision to submit the paper for publication. Palkovitz, R. The growth of maternal-fetal emotional attachment in pregnant adolescents: a prospective cohort study. Prenatal involvement on later paternal engagement. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology , 18 3 , — Fuller JR. Mother-to-infant bonding quality measured at a certain time point during pregnancy or postpartum earlier mother-to-infant bonding was positively associated with mother-to-infant bonding quality measured later in time prenatal or postnatal in all 19 studies.

Optimale moeder-kind binding: een systematische review Optimal mother-to-infant bonding: a systematic review of prenatal interventions. The Parent Educators support parents need for a small group to optimize their learning and bonding with each other and preparing to birth their babies. Yarcheski, A. New York: Basic Books. Erickson, M. Less sensitive, and poorer maternal parenting, in turn, has been linked to insecure attachment [ 12 ], depression [ 13 — 16 ], and anxiety in children [ 13 ]. Health Care Women Int. Psychosocial Mother-to-infant bonding quality measured at a certain time point during pregnancy or postpartum earlier mother-to-infant bonding was positively associated with mother-to-infant bonding quality measured later in time prenatal or postnatal in all 19 studies. Clinical and methodological heterogeneity of the studies were assessed as stipulated in the protocol. Abstract The emotional bond that a mother feels towards her baby is critical to social, emotional and cognitive development.