The beginning of the father -child relationship: exploring the influence of intra and interpersonal variables on the PFA (paternal-fetal attachment)

The construct of prenatal attachment refers to the complex of attitudes, behaviors and representations that parents develop towards the fetus during pregnancy (Cranley, 1981; Müller, 1993; Condon, 1993). To date, research has focused more on the development of the maternal compared to the paternal prenatal attachment. On the contrary, our study aimed to specifically investigate the development of the paternal-fetal attachment (PFA). The research has a longitudinal design, with data collection in pregnancy (VII-VIII month) and in the postnatal period (3-4 months after childbirth). We recruited a sample of 112 expectant fathers (age 25-51 yr.). In the prenatal period, they completed measures of prenatal attachment (PAI, Müller 1993; PAAS, Condon 1993), dyadic adjustment (DAS, Spanier 1976), depression (CES-D, Radloff 1977), psychiatric symptoms (SCL-90R, Derogatis et al. 1977). In the postnatal phase, a subsample of expectant fathers completed the DAS, CES-D and SCL-90R again, along with measures of postnatal attachment to the child (MPAS, Condon & Corkindale 1998), child's behavior (SVC-24, Laicardi 1998) and parent-child bond problems (PBQ, Brockington et al. 2001). This contribution concerns only prenatal data, as the study is in progress and the postnatal sample is still numerically small. The results indicated no significant effect of parity and no significant effect of the planning pregnancy on paternal-infant attachment scores. They also revealed positive significant correlations of prenatal attachment with dyadic adjustment in couple’s relationship. A regression analysis showed that age (-) and dyadic adjustment (+) were significant predictors of the paternal prenatal attachment. These results suggest that quality of the couple relationship seems to be an important protective factor for the development of the paternal prenatal attachment. This should be taken into account in planning support services for the couple during the transition to parenthood

Il processo di cotruzione del legame di attaccamento prenatale nelle coppie in attesa: una ricerca esplorativa

Obiettivo del lavoro è indagare il ruolo che variabili individuali e relazionali esercitano sullo sviluppo dell’Attaccamento Prenatale Materno/Paterno durante la gravidanza. Hanno partecipato allo studio 94 coppie in attesa e ciascun partner ha compilato: Scheda di rilevazione di variabili sociodemografiche/anamnestiche/relative alla gravidanza; PAI (Della Vedova et al., 2008); ECR-R (Busonera et al., 2014); DAS (Gentili et al., 2002); PBI (Scinto, 1999); MSPSS (Prezza e Principato, 2002). I risultati mostrano che lo stile di accudimento della famiglia d’origine, la qualità del legame di coppia e alcune variabili contestuali influenzano la transizione alla genitorialità in maniera differente negli uomini e nelle donne

Transizione alla genitorialità nelle donne con patologie autoimmuni: individuazione di fattori psicosociali protettivi e di rischio

In presenza di patologia autoimmune materna, la nascita di un figlio è un evento complesso da un punto di vista sia fisico sia psicologico. Questo studio, rivolto a coppie in cui la donna è affetta da malattia autoimmune, intende individuare variabili personali, relazionali e contestuali in grado di influenzare il benessere dei futuri genitori e il loro legame con il figlio. Il disegno è longitudinale, con somministrazione di questionari e interviste in gravidanza (2°-3° trimestre) e nella fase postnatale (3-4 mesi dopo il parto). Il contributo illustra dei risultati preliminari, relativi a 34 gestanti su misure di attaccamento prenatale (PAI, Müller 1993; MAAS, Condon, 1993) e romantico (ECR–R, Fraley et al., 2000), adattamento diadico (DAS, Spanier 1976), disregolazione emotiva (DERS, Gratz & Roemer, 2004), caregiving dei propri genitori (PBI, Parker et al., 1979), supporto sociale (MSPSS, Zimet et al., 1988), depressione (CES-D, Radloff 1977), fiducia nelle figure sanitarie (HCR Trust Scale, Bova et al., 2006). È emersa una correlazione significativa positiva tra attaccamento prenatale e cura fornita dalla figura paterna durante infanzia e adolescenza. Inoltre, a livelli più alti di disregolazione emotiva sono associati livelli più alti di depressione, ansia ed evitamento relazionale, livelli più bassi di supporto sociale percepito, cura parentale nell’infanzia e nell’adolescenza, consenso e coesione nella relazione di coppia. Questi primi dati suggeriscono che il ricordo di un caregiving paterno caratterizzato da affetto, calore, empatia e intimità funge da fattore protettivo rispetto al formarsi dell’attaccamento prenatale materno, mentre la disregolazione emotiva rappresenta un fattore di rischio in grado di minare il benessere psicologico delle gestanti. Emerge l’importanza di comprendere l’impatto della malattia autoimmune sulla ridefinizione degli equilibri psichici genitoriali al fine di migliorare le buone prassi nell’assistenza psicologica alle gestanti

Personality Similarity and Romantic Relationship Adjustment During the Couple Life Cycle

Over the last decade, a substantial number of studies have focused on the role of personality traits and of the personality trait similarity/dissimilarity in partner selection and in predicting the quality of adult romantic relationships. The present study contributes to this general objective by investigating the correlations between levels of similarity/dissimilarity in partners’ personality profiles, analyzed through the Big Five dimensions, and levels of romantic relationship adjustment at different stage of a couple’s life course. A sample of Italian couples (N ¼ 92 couples; 184 individuals) completed the Big Five Questionnaire and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The results revealed that similarity was not directly related with romantic relationship adjustment. Similarity only affected adjustment in interaction with the length of relationship. Partners reporting high levels of similarity in conscientiousness and openness showed the highest levels of romantic relationship adjustment during the first years of their relationship, while showing lower levels of adjustment as the relationship progressed. The lower levels of romantic relationship adjustment fell within the length of relationship range spanning between 10 and 21 years. These results suggest the importance of considering the life cycle perspective when studying the impact of personality similarity on romantic relationships, as well as suggesting the need to analyze the relationship between personality factors and interpersonal processes in a deeper way particularly in counseling and therapeutic contexts

Parenting after preterm birth: Link between infant medical risk and premature parenthood. A pilot study

The aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between parental emotion regulation, infant medical risks and representation of child’s behaviour at 3 months corrected age. The sample includes 28 couples (parents) and 32 preterm infants (4 set of twins) (AG average: 29 weeks), Low Birth Weight (average weight: 1180,62 gr), hospitalized for about two months. At the 3rd month of corrected age of the child all couples were interviewed using the “Clinical Interview for Parents of High Risk Infants” (CLIP; Meyer et al., 1993), which explores the emotional aspects associated with preterm birth. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using ATLAS.TI. After the interview, only 14 mothers and 14 fathers completed the Behaviour Rating Scale (SVC-80; Laicardi, 1998), which explores the observational-representative styles of each parent with respect to the child’s behaviour in the context of everyday life. We identified three Couples Groups indicating qualitative differences in the emotional functioning of the subjects mainly in the temporal dimension: 1) 12 “future-oriented”; 2) 12 “suspended in the present”; 3) 4 “oriented to the past”. The results show that the infant’s medical status has a impact on ability of parents to process the experience of preterm birth: increasing the infant’s medical risks increases the difficulty of parents ability to process the experience. The CLIP can be a useful screening tool to identify difficulties of parents, to structure interventions focused on the elaboration of the traumatic experience of birth and on improving the quality of parent-infant relationship

Investigating validity and reliability evidence for the maternal antenatal attachment scale in a sample of Italian women

This study focused on the development of the emotional tie of the expectant mother towards her unborn child and aimed to achieve structural and external validity evidence for an Italian version of the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS; Br J Med Psychol 66: 167–183, 1993). The MAAS was translated into Italian and was administered to a sample of 482 Italian expectant women (age 20–43 years), together with other questionnaires measuring maternal–fetal attachment, psychological well-being, and relational variables. The hypothesised relationships with external concurrent and predictive criteria were substantiated. Internal consistencies were adequate for the total scale and for one of the two subscales. Confirmatory factor analyses provided general support for an oblique two-factor model, with minor model misfit. Therefore, an exploratory factor analysis with oblimin rotation was performed. The findings suggested that some items may represent extraneous constructs. Implications for future research regarding the functioning of the instrument are addressed