Prenatal Attachment and Other Feelings and Thoughts During Pregnancy in Three Groups of Pregnant Women

It has been established that attachment to one’s preborn child is often
associated with attachment with the child after the birth (Benoit, Parker, &Zeanah, 1997; Muller, 1996; Fuller,
1990). Also attachment between child and primary care giver has been shown to be paramount to the emotional
well being of children (Bowlby, 1969; Ainsworth, 1985a). As well, attachment to one’s fetus may contribute to
lower risk of child abuse (Pollock &Percy, 1999). There has been considerable interest in the past 20 years in
antenatal attachment and its correlates. Despite some contradictory results, the literature highlights that
prenatal attachment is likely contextual (i.e., it interacts with demographic, situational, and personality variables,
and is influenced by, for example, culture, age, social and health-related support, marital relationship, etc.;
Salisbury, Law, LaGasse, &Lester, 2003). However, pregnancy occurring when one is already a mother, is
infrequently examined. Further, the context of a mother of a child with disabilities who is expecting another
baby, constitutes an intuitively important, yet neglected area in the study of prenatal attachment. This paper
reports results of a study where mothers of a child with Down syndrome (DS) who are pregnant again, pregnant
mothers of ‘typically’ developing child(ren), and first-time mothers-to-be, were surveyed on a number of areas
related to prenatal attachment. Results indicated that there were group differences in a number of domains. For
example, initial reaction to pregnancy was less joyful for mothers of a child with DS; prenatal attachment was
lower in mothers expecting a subsequent baby; and women expecting their first child spent more time in
prenatal attachment behaviors than those expecting a subsequent baby. As well, correlations among the
variables were different in the three groups. An interesting finding was that half of the DS group did not plan this
pregnancy (compared with only 20% and 21% respectively for the other groups), and cited religious or moral
reasons for having the baby. Further study is needed in order to, improve the knowledge in the area of
subsequent pregnancy, especially after having a child with disabilities, and to enhance clinical and social
service delivery systems for this population. Headnote KEY WORDS: prenatal attachment, empathy,
subsequent pregnancy, Down syndrome.