Building infant–mother attachment: the relationship between attachment style, socio‐emotional well‐being and maternal representations

Abstract

The pilot study explored differences in maternal representations between primiparous pregnant woman with different attachment styles and different levels of socio‐emotional well‐being. The sample included 55 pregnant women between the ages of 18 and 38, between 4 and 7 months pregnant. Representations were assessed using the ‘R’ Interview, attachment styles using the CaMir, and socio‐emotional well‐being using the OQ‐45.2. According to the results, prenatal representation of own mother‐as‐mother may be significantly related with pregnant women’s attachment experiences, but this representation may not be significantly related to the woman’s prenatal socio‐emotional well‐being. On the other hand, representation of the child and self‐as‐mother may not be significantly related to attachment experiences, but rather with prenatal socio‐emotional well‐being. This implies that the prenatal socio‐emotional context plays a great role as a protective factor with respect to the representations of the child and self‐as‐mother and, therefore, has strong implications for the future mother–infant attachment and child development, which is very relevant in terms of prevention of attachment difficulties.

Keywords:

• prenatal maternal representations
• attachment styles and socio‐emotional well‐being

Acknowledgements

The pilot study reported in this paper was supported by grants of the Chilean National Fund of Scientific and Technologic Development, Project No. 1040760.