A longitudinal study on the association between trait mindfulness and maternal bonding across the perinatal period

Figures & data

Table 1. Correlations between facets of mindfulness, maternal bonding and depressive symptoms (N = 1003).

	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	9.	10.	11.
1. TFMQ-SF: acting with awareness	1
2. TFMQ-SF: non-judging	.39**	1
3. TFMQ-SF: non-reacting	−.07*	−.00	1
4. PPBS: 28 weeks of pregnancy	.13**	.18**	.08*	1
5. PPBS: 8 weeks postpartum	.11**	.12**	.06	.45**	1
6. PPBS: 6 months postpartum	.10**	.08*	.03	.41**	.54**	1
7. PPBS: 12 months postpartum	.10*	.10*	.07	.42**	.51**	.60**	1
8. EPDS: 28 weeks of pregnancy	−.28**	−.48**	−.14**	−.28**	−.16**	−.16**	−.16**	1
9. EPDS: 8 weeks postpartum	−.17**	−.36**	−.13**	−.16**	−.47**	−.31**	−.24**	.44**	1
10. EPDS: 6 months postpartum	−.19**	−.37**	−.14**	−.16**	−.23**	−.32**	−.21**	.48**	.57**	1
11. EPDS: 12 months postpartum	−.20**	−.34**	−.14**	−.12**	−.21**	−.18**	−.29**	.48**	.52**	.59**	1
Mean (SD)	14.28 (3.17)	15.50 (3.22)	14.02 (3.59)	12.87 (2.37)	13.63 (2.04)	13.79 (1.75)	13.56 (1.92)	4.72 (4.09)	4.98 (4.60)	4.81 (4.40)	4.62 (4.21)
Range	5–20	4–20	4–20	2–15	3–15	6–15	5–15	0–22	0–30	0–26	0–23

*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 (two-tailed); TFMQ-SF, Three Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire – Short Form (20 weeks of pregnancy); PPBS, Pre- and Post-natal Bonding Scale; EDS, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; SD, standard deviation.

Figure 1. Maternal bonding scores from 28 weeks of pregnancy to 12 months postpartum.

A line graph plotting the mean bonding scores over time: at 28 weeks of pregnancy, 8 weeks postpartum, 6 months postpartum and 12 months postpartum. The figure illustrates that maternal bonding increases from pregnancy to 8 weeks postpartum after which this increase flattens during the postnatal period.

Table 2. Multilevel analyses with mindfulness facet acting with awareness predicting maternal bonding over the course of the perinatal period.

	B	SE	t	p	95% CI
					LL	UL
Step 1
Time	1.80	0.14	8.46	<.001	0.91	1.45
TFMQ-SF: acting with awareness	0.10	0.02	4.66	<.001	0.06	0.14
Time*time	−0.24	0.03	−9.41	<.001	−0.29	−0.19
Time*acting with awareness	−0.02	0.01	−2.04	.041	−0.03	−0.00
Step 2
Time	1.17	0.14	8.66	<.001	0.91	1.43
TFMQ-SF: acting with awareness	0.04	0.02	2.06	.040	0.00	0.08
Time*time	−0.26	0.02	−10.87	<.001	−0.31	−0.21
Time*acting with awareness	−0.01	0.01	−1.41	.159	−0.03	0.00
EPDS mean	−0.16	0.01	−11.43	<.001	−0.18	−0.13
EPDS deviation	−0.15	0.01	−16.53	<.001	−0.17	−0.13
Maternal age	−0.01	0.01	−0.85	.396	−0.04	0.02
Low education	0.46	0.12	3.95	<.001	0.23	0.69
Unplanned pregnancy	−0.24	0.17	−1.38	.169	−0.58	−0.10
Single marital status	−0.06	0.47	−0.14	.893	−0.98	0.85
Primiparous	0.11	0.10	1.10	.271	−0.08	0.30

TFMQ-SF, Three Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire – Short Form (20 weeks of pregnancy); EPDS, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; EPDS deviation reflect the centred scores within women; SE, standard error; CI, confidence interval; LL, lower level; UL, upper level; low level of education: lower than Bachelor’s degree.

Table 3. Multilevel analyses with mindfulness facet non-judging predicting maternal bonding over the course of the perinatal period.

	B	SE	t	p	95% CI
					LL	UL
Step 1
Time	1.33	0.15	9.09	<.001	1.05	1.62
TFMQ-SF: non-judging	0.11	0.02	5.51	<.001	0.07	0.15
Time*time	−0.24	0.03	−9.39	<.001	−0.29	−0.19
Time* non-judging	−0.03	0.01	−3.18	.001	−0.04	−0.01
Step 2
Time	1.29	0.14	9.11	<.001	1.01	1.57
TFMQ-SF: non-judging	0.01	0.02	0.40	.688	−0.03	0.05
Time*time	−0.26	0.02	−10.83	<.001	−0.31	−0.21
Time* non-judging	−0.02	0.01	−2.36	.018	−0.03	−0.00
EPDS mean	−0.17	0.02	−11.34	<.001	−0.20	−0.14
EPDS deviation	−0.15	0.01	−16.38	<.001	−0.17	−0.13
Maternal age	−0.01	0.01	−0.71	.477	−0.04	0.02
Low education	0.48	0.12	4.09	<.001	0.25	0.70
Unplanned pregnancy	−0.23	0.17	−1.35	.176	−0.57	−0.11
Single marital status	−0.09	0.47	−0.19	.849	−1.00	0.83
Primiparous	0.11	0.10	1.18	.238	−0.08	0.30

TFMQ-SF, Three Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire – Short Form (20 weeks of pregnancy); EPDS, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; EPDS deviation reflect the centred scores within women; SE, standard error; CI, confidence interval; LL, lower level; UL, upper level; low level of education: lower than Bachelor’s degree.

Table 4. Multilevel analyses with mindfulness facet non-reacting predicting maternal bonding over the course of the perinatal period.

	B	SE	t	p	95% CI
					LL	UL
Step 1
Time	1.05	0.13	8.15	<.001	0.80	1.30
TFMQ-SF: non-reacting	0.04	0.02	2.20	.028	0.00	0.08
Time*time	−0.24	0.03	−9.42	<.001	−0.29	−0.19
Time* non-reacting	−0.01	0.01	−1.03	.302	−0.02	0.01
Step 2
Time	1.16	0.12	9.35	<.001	0.92	1.41
TFMQ-SF: non-reacting	0.03	0.02	1.58	.113	−0.01	0.06
Time*time	−0.26	0.02	−10.89	<.001	−0.31	−0.21
Time* non-reacting	−0.01	0.01	−1.55	.120	−0.02	0.00
EPDS mean	−0.16	0.01	−11.95	<.001	−0.19	−0.13
EPDS deviation	−0.15	0.01	−16.56	<.001	−0.17	−0.13
Maternal age	−0.01	0.01	−0.78	.435	−0.04	0.02
Low education	0.49	0.12	4.13	<.001	0.26	0.73
Unplanned pregnancy	−0.23	0.17	−1.32	.187	−0.57	−0.11
Single marital status	−0.08	0.47	−0.18	.857	−1.00	0.83
Primiparous	0.11	0.10	1.17	.243	−0.08	0.30

TFMQ-SF, Three Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire – Short Form (20 weeks of pregnancy); EPDS, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; EPDS deviation reflect the centred scores within women; SE, standard error; CI, confidence interval; LL, lower level; UL, upper level; low level of education: lower than Bachelor’s degree.

Figure 2. Interaction between acting with awareness and time (Panel A) and non-judging and time (Panel B), predicting maternal bonding scores.

Note: Time: 0 = 28 weeks of pregnancy, 1 = 8 weeks postpartum, 2 = 6 months postpartum, 3 = 12 months postpartum; AA: Acting with Awareness; NJ: Non-Judging

Read the detailed description of this figure

Two interaction plots visualizing the interaction between a facet of mindfulness and time, with time on the X axis (0 = 28 weeks of pregnancy, 1 = 8 weeks postpartum, 2 = 6 months postpartum, 3 = 12 months postpartum) and bonding scores on the Y-axis. Three lines are displayed for low, medium and high scores on the specific mindfulness facet. Fig 2 (Panel A) visualizes the interaction between acting with awareness and time and shows that women scoring high on acting with awareness report higher bonding scores throughout the perinatal period, but demonstrated a smaller increase, compared to women with average and low acting with awareness scores. Fig 2 (Panel B) shows that women scoring high on non-judging report higher bonding scores throughout the perinatal period, but also demonstrated a smaller increase, compared to women with medium and low non-judging scores.