The transition to motherhood: Maternal well-being and mother-child bonding until four months postpartum. The role of mothers’ early maladaptive schemas, attachment style and the Newborn Behavioral Observation

Abstract

In this thesis, it was investigated whether mothers` EMSs would predict maternal-fetal bonding quality during pregnancy (paper 1), whether attachment style would be associated with mother-infant bonding quality after birth (paper 2), and if these relations were mediated by symptoms of depression (paper 1) and parenting stress (paper 2). EMSs and anxious and avoidant attachment styles may be thought of as vulnerability factors for these relationships. In addition, we wanted to investigate whether a short intervention, the NBO, was associated with better maternal well-being postpartum, the quality of the mother’s relationship to the infant, and mothers’ experiences of postpartum follow-up care. The results show that EMSs, especially from the domain of disconnection and rejection domain, was related to poorer maternal-fetal bonding. Maternal symptoms of depression were found to mediate the relationship between EMSs and maternal-fetal bonding. Maternal attachment style, especially attachment avoidance, was related to poorer mother-infant bonding. Parenting stress mediated the relationship between attachment style and mother-infant bonding. Receiving the NBO-intervention was not associated with lower levels of maternal depressive symptoms and parenting stress, nor with stronger mother-infant bonding, better reflective functioning, or higher maternal confidence. However, the NBO was associated with increased knowledge about the infant`s signals. There may be limited benefits of the NBO in a well-functioning population of new mothers. The results on EMSs and adult attachment styles may have implications for identification of mothers at risk of bonding difficulties to their unborn child and their infant.