Building infant-mother attachment: the relationship between attachment style, socio-emotional well-being and maternal representations

The pilot study explored differences in maternal representations between primiparous pregnant woman with different attachment styles and different levels of socio-emotional well-being. The sample included 55 pregnant women between the ages of 18 and 38, between 4 and 7 months pregnant. Representations were assessed using the 'R' Interview, attachment styles using the CaMir, and socio-emotional well-being using the OQ-45.2. According to the results, prenatal representation of own mother-as-mother may be significantly related with pregnant women's attachment experiences, but this representation may not be significantly related to the woman's prenatal socio-emotional well-being. On the other hand, representation of the child and self-as-mother may not be significantly related to attachment experiences, but rather with prenatal socio-emotional well-being. This implies that the prenatal socio-emotional context plays a great role as a protective factor with respect to the representations of the child and self-as-mother and, therefore, has strong implications for the future mother-infant attachment and child development, which is very relevant in terms of prevention of attachment difficulties.