Maternal attachment, depression, and body dissatisfaction in pregnant women

Abstract

Maternal attachment, or the affiliation a mother feels towards her child, is an important predictor of maternal health and fetal/infant outcomes. Thus, it is important to identify psychological factors which may impact maternal attachment. This study examined associations among maternal attachment, depression, and body dissatisfaction (BD) throughout weeks of pregnancy. Pregnant women (n = 196) were recruited to complete a self‐report questionnaire about their experiences during pregnancy. There was no direct association between maternal attachment and BD. However, BD moderated the association between maternal attachment and weeks of pregnancy, and this association was not mediated by depression. High BD may contribute to poorer maternal health and poorer fetal outcomes through blunted growth of maternal attachment during pregnancy. Thus, high BD may be an important target for intervention in women during pregnancy. Future studies should examine longitudinal associations among these variables throughout the perinatal period.