Prenatal bonds among Polish expectant couples: a brief version of the parental antenatal attachment scales

ABSTRACT

Objective

To examine the psychometric properties of the Maternal and Paternal Attachment Scales (MAAS/PAAS) in a Polish sample of expectant couples.

Background

A parental prenatal bond is important for the psychological and health outcomes of children and parents. The MAAS/PAAS is one of the well-established measures for parental prenatal bonding. However, there is a lack of Polish investigations of the factor structure and construct validity of these scales.

Methods

The sample consisted of 341 Polish expectant couples who were surveyed about their prenatal bond, closeness with their unborn child, relationship satisfaction, and gender-role attitudes towards parenthood. The reliability and construct validity of the MAAS/PAAS were evaluated. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and a Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) were conducted.

Results

The obtained results did not confirm the original factor structures of the MAAS/PAAS. However, in the proposed  single 11-item version for the MAAS/PAAS, two factors equivalent to the original structure were extracted. The scale reliability for the brief MAAS/PAAS version was good. The construct validity was confirmed.

Conclusion

The single Polish brief version for the MAAS/PAAS is a reliable and valid measure to use in Polish context. The obtained results support the importance of couple functioning for the MAAS/PAAS.

KEYWORDS:

• Pregnancy
• mother/s
• father/s
• prenatal bonds
• attachment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.