Fetal Attachment and Depression: Measurement Matters

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Fetal
Attachment (FA) and depression. Condon and Corkindale (1997) have found a relationship between the quality
of FA and depression, in women, using the Antenatal Attachment Inventory (AAI; Condon, 1993) to measure FA
and four different instruments to measure depression. Previous studies have failed to find a consistent
relationship between FA and depression when employing the Fetal Attachment Scale (FAS; Cranley, 1981) to
measure FA. In a critical review of the FA research, Muller (1992) proposed that inconsistencies were possibly
artifacts of the FAS. This study is both a replication and an elaboration of Condon and Corkindale’s study.
Several modifications were made to the procedures employed by Condon. This study used both the FAS and
the AAI to measure FA, to illuminate whether they would perform equally in explicating the relationship between
FA and depression. In addition, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies in Depression Scale (CES-D; Rodloff,
1977) was used to measure depression to determine if Condon and Corkindale’s results would be upheld with a
fifth measure of depression. Other modifications included: testing males to determine any sex differences and
comparing persons with and without a history of major depression. There were 68 expecting adults in the study
(35 females and 33 male partners). Results from this study, demonstrated that it does matter how FA is
measured. As expected, the FAS did not correlate with the CES-D and, as Condon and Corkindale found, the
AAI-Quality subscale did. For women, there was a significant inverse relationship between FA-Quality and
depression (r = -.62, p <.01) and there was no association between FA-Intensity (i.e., the amount of time
women spent engaging in FA behavior) and depression. Further analysis of the relationship between FA and
depression was obtained by investigating results from the AAI data. Sex differences were detected; there were
no significant associations between FA-Quality and depression for males. It was expected and confirmed that
parents with a history of depression report greater depressive symptoms than parents without a history of major
depression. Further exploration of the types of symptoms reported by individuals, with a history of major
depression, revealed that women reported more somatic symptoms than men, but not more non-somatic
symptoms. However, women, with a history of depression, reported more non-somatic symptoms of depression
than women, without a history of major depression. Possible mechanisms that could account for the link
between FA and depression are considered and the clinical importance of early detection and treatment of
depression during pregnancy are discussed. Headnote KEY WORDS: fetal attachment, pregnancy, depression,
measurement, sex differences, risk factors.