Body experience and the mother–child relationship in pregnancy: a cross-sectional study of pregnant Portuguese women

ABSTRACT

Objective: In spite of the huge physical transformations that occur during pregnancy, there is little research on the role of body experience in the establishment of the mother–child relationship in pregnancy. The aim of the present study was to address this gap.

Method: A sample of 330 pregnant women completed questionnaires assessing mother–child relationship (the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale), body experience, and other demographic and pregnancy variables.

Results: Pearson’s correlations revealed a number of variables were related to mother–child relationship in pregnancy, and t-tests and ANOVAs showed some between-subjects differences based on demographic variables. After controlling for these variables, regression analyses revealed that body experience was a significant predictor of both subscales of the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale: emotional investment in the baby and maternal role-taking.

Conclusion: These findings highlight the connection between body experience and the psychological tasks of pregnancy and draw attention to new ways of assessing and improving mother–child relationships as early as in pregnancy. Results are discussed in terms of their clinical implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Body experience
• mother-child relationship
• pregnancy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência e o Ensino Superior do Governo de Portugal) under Grant SFRH/BD/1392/2000.