Neuroscience
Psychologists are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of 'antenatal attachment' - the bond formed between a pregnant mother and her unborn child. For example, a mother's degree of affection for her unborn child, and the amount of time she thinks about it, can predict the quality of the mother-child relationship once the baby is born. Pier Righetti (Conegliano Hospital, Italy) and colleagues investigated whether advances in ultrasound technology that provide enhanced foetal images, would strengthen the attachment formed between parents and their unborn baby.
Fifty-six women at 19-23 weeks pregnancy, and their partners, were split into two groups. Half attended a standard 2-D ultrasound appointment, and half underwent a state-of-the-art 4-D ultrasound, which provides superior imagery of the foetus, including showing its movements in real time. Before the ultrasound, and then two weeks after it, the parents completed self-report attachment questionnaires.
The strength of the mothers' attachment to their unborn baby increased significantly over the two week period, probably due in part to the foetuses starting to kick more during that time. However, the quality of the ultrasound made no difference to their strength of attachment, and the fathers' attachment didn't increase over the two weeks regardless of the ultrasound technology.
The authors point out that the improved ultrasound could have psychological benefits not tapped by the self-report questionnaires they used; that their research should be repeated at other stages of pregnancy, and with a greater number of couples.
__________________________________
Righetti, P.L., Avanzo, M.D., Grigio, M. & Nicolini. (2005). Maternal/paternal antenatal attachment and fourth-dimensional ultrasound technique: a preliminary report. British Journal of Psychology, 96, 129-139.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
Born already attached
Psychologists are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of 'antenatal attachment' - the bond formed between a pregnant mother and her unborn child. For example, a mother's degree of affection for her unborn child, and the amount of time she thinks about it, can predict the quality of the mother-child relationship once the baby is born. Pier Righetti (Conegliano Hospital, Italy) and colleagues investigated whether advances in ultrasound technology that provide enhanced foetal images, would strengthen the attachment formed between parents and their unborn baby.
Fifty-six women at 19-23 weeks pregnancy, and their partners, were split into two groups. Half attended a standard 2-D ultrasound appointment, and half underwent a state-of-the-art 4-D ultrasound, which provides superior imagery of the foetus, including showing its movements in real time. Before the ultrasound, and then two weeks after it, the parents completed self-report attachment questionnaires.
The strength of the mothers' attachment to their unborn baby increased significantly over the two week period, probably due in part to the foetuses starting to kick more during that time. However, the quality of the ultrasound made no difference to their strength of attachment, and the fathers' attachment didn't increase over the two weeks regardless of the ultrasound technology.
The authors point out that the improved ultrasound could have psychological benefits not tapped by the self-report questionnaires they used; that their research should be repeated at other stages of pregnancy, and with a greater number of couples.
__________________________________
Righetti, P.L., Avanzo, M.D., Grigio, M. & Nicolini. (2005). Maternal/paternal antenatal attachment and fourth-dimensional ultrasound technique: a preliminary report. British Journal of Psychology, 96, 129-139.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- You're Not Addicted To Your Phone, It's Just That You Have An Anxious Attachment Style
Image: Victor/FlickrIf you can barely put your phone down for a minute, and you get all panicky when your juice runs out, past psychology research might describe you as being somehow addicted, dependent or that you have a new condition "nomophobia", literally...
- The Children Of Securely Attached Mothers Think That God Is Close
Children's sense of God's closeness is apparently related, not to their mother's religiosity, but to their mother's attachment style - that is, whether the mother is calm and confident in her relationships or anxious and uncertain. Specifically,...
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Shelves of evidence show the long-term, adverse consequences for an embryo of having a mother who is stressed or malnourished during pregnancy. For instance, there's medical data showing that underweight newborn babies are more at risk of heart diseases...
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If a mother has a negative perception of her baby when it's just one month old, there's a strong possibility that same baby will have attachment problems as an adult, thirty or forty years later. That's the claim of a longitudinal study that...
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