Prenatal Views Of Baby And Parenthood: Association With Sociodemographic And Pregnancy Factors

The uaim of the present study was to explore whether sociodemographic and pregnancy factors are associated with the content of prenatal maternal representations about the child and maternity. The study was designed as a questionnaire-based, anonymous, cross-sectional study. Participants were 391 pregnant women in routine follow-up visits enrolled from 14 maternity care centers in Southwestern Finland. Measures consisted of self-report questionnaires for background data and adjective lists (i.e., semantic differentials) regarding the mother's prenatal view of this child, herself, child's father, and own mother-as-mother. Of the nine background factors explored in this study, two factors had significant associations with the content of prenatal representations: (a) number of children under 7 years of age in the household and (b) planning of the current pregnancy. Prenatal maternal representations about the child, self, partner, and own mother were more negative in content, especially if the mother already had two to three children under 7 years of age, if this pregnancy was not planned, or both. Background factors which did not have significant associations with the content of any prenatal representations included social class, previous abortions, duration of gestation, and somatic problems in this pregnancy. The results are important considering the previous research findings on the role of prenatal representations for the quality of postnatal maternal interactive behavior with the child, intergenerational transmission of attachment security, and developmental outcome of the child later, even in school age. The factors found in this study to have significance for the content of prenatal representations are routinely asked in all maternity care practice and do not need any arrangements to be explored. The results suggest that professionals working in maternity care should pay more attention to the subgroups of pregnant women with many small children in the family and/or whose pregnancy is unplanned. Their need for support in the relationship with this particular child should be especially attended to.