Measurement of women’s prenatal attitudes towards maternity and pregnancy and analysis of their predictors

Abstract

Research shows that the ability of a woman to adapt to motherhood can be influenced by her attitude towards motherhood and the unborn child during pregnancy. The main goal of the current article is to analyse the maternal attitudes shaped during the prenatal period of the child's development. This goal was associated with fulfilling two research tasks. The first task was to adapt a tool to measure prenatal attitudes towards motherhood and pregnancy to Polish conditions, including some modifications of the tool, and to present the results of that adaptation. The second research task was to investigate selected factors influencing the development of prenatal attitudes. participants and procedureThe study was carried out in two stages. The first stage of the research, conducted with 227 pregnant women, was to adapt the PRE-MAMA questionnaire. All of the subjects were primiparous women aged between 18 and 39 years (M = 26.84), inhabitants of southern Poland. 137 pregnant women from the Silesian Voivodeship in Poland were questioned in the second part of the study. These women were divided into two groups (68 women with a normal course of pregnancy and 69 women with high-risk pregnancies). The mean age of the women approached 30 years (M = 29.78). resultsThe results of the first stage of the current research indicate satisfactory psychometric properties of the Kwestionariusz Postaw wobec Macierzyństwa i Ciąży (Polish for: Attitudes towards Motherhood and Pregnancy Questionnaire, abbreviated as PRE-MAMA), composed of 11 sta tements.Stepwise multiple regression analysis used in the second stage of research revealed that predictors of attitudes towards motherhood and pregnancy include prenatal worries of the pregnant women, planning of the pregnancy and a medical history of miscarriage. conclusionsOur research points at two important results. First, the PRE-MAMA questionnaire was assessed positively, and it can be stated that this tool can be used in further scientific research concerned with the issues of functioning of pregnant women and their attitudes towards motherhood and pregnancy. Second, the preliminary results suggest, among other things, the importance of fears/concerns, perception of the pregnancy as planned or unplanned as well as previously experienced miscarriages for the formation of women's attitudes towards motherhood and pregnancy. key words pregnancy; prenatal period; attitudes; maternity; predictors of attitudes

Maternal–Infant Bonding and Its Relationships with Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Stress and Anxiety in the Early Postpartum Period in a Polish Sample

“…For further research it would be valuable to gather more specific information about how exactly stress and coping strategies with stress are related to maternal–infant bonding. There is abundant room for further progress in determining other risk factors that may affect maternal bonding with a child such as social support, parental relationship quality, maternal body image [ 16 ], and optimism and resilience [ 44 ]. In general, understanding how maternal mental state is related to a mother’s perceptions of bonding and her behavior towards a child may help to provide various interventions for mothers in order to prevent potential negative outcomes [ 45 ].…”

Body Acceptance by Pregnant Women and Their Attitudes toward Pregnancy and Maternity as Predictors of Prenatal Depression

“…This seems to be related to the women’s ability to adapt to multiple changes, including biological, psychological, and social changes [ 38 ]. Women who plan a pregnancy have more positive attitudes about pregnancy and are more aware of changes that motherhood may bring [ 39 , 40 ]. There is empirical evidence that positive attitudes toward motherhood and pregnancy represent an important predictor for some aspects of psychological well-being [ 41 ], but anxiety attitudes can be negative determinants of the subjective happiness of pregnant women [ 42 ].…”

Partner support as a mediator of the relationship between prenatal concerns and psychological well-being in pregnant women

“…Bidzan, Bieleninik, Zadolska, & Salwach, 2009;Guardino & Dunkel-Schetter, 2014;Accortt, Cheadle, & Dunkel-Schetter, 2015;Yim, Tanner Stapleton, Guardino, Hahn-Holbrook, & Dunkel-Schetter, 2015). The undertaken lines of research cover seeking factors that determine: (a) the establishment of an emotional bond with the unborn baby during pregnancy (e.g., Bidzan et al, 2009;Bieleninik, Preis, & Bidzan, 2010;Pawlicka, Chrzan-Dętkoś, & Lutkiewicz, 2013;Mass, Vreeswijk, de Cock, Rijk, & van Bakel, 2012); (b) the experience of stress and its effect on the physical health of pregnant women and infants (e.g., DaCosta, Larouche, Dritsa, & Brender, 1999;DiPietro, 2004); (c) the psychological well-being of a pregnant woman in relation to analysis of mental health resources and social resources (e.g., Dyrdal, Røysamb, Bang Nes, & Vittersø, 2010;Sieber, Germann, Barbir, & Ehlert, 2006;Rini, Killingsworth, Dunkel-Schetter, Wadhwa, & Sandman, 1999;Yali & Lobel, 2002); (d) the process of adapting to parental roles (with particular focus on motherhood) and disturbances within this process in the form of adaptive problems occurring in pregnancy and after childbirth (e.g., Bielawska-Batorowicz & Kossakowska-Petrycka, 2006;Ilska & Przybyła-Basista, 2014Kaźmierczak, Kiełbratowska, & Karasiewicz, 2015;Nishimura, Fujita, Katsuta, Ishihara, & Ohashi, 2015).…”