Prenatal Attachment and the Relationship With Body Self-Perception

Abstract

Objective: To explore prenatal attachment by sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics and to determine the relationship between prenatal attachment and body self-perception among pregnant women.

Design: Descriptive correlational.

Setting: The obstetrics and gynecology outpatient clinic of a university hospital in Ankara, Turkey.

Participants: One hundred eighty-three healthy pregnant women at 20 weeks or more of pregnancy who visited the obstetrics and gynecology outpatient clinic of the university hospital between April 3 and July 6, 2019.

Methods: We collected data using a personal data collection form, the Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI), and the Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire.

Results: Participants' mean PAI score was 67.74 (SD = 9.98). Participants younger than 20 years had the lowest mean PAI score of 57.20 (SD = 10.66). The level of prenatal attachment decreased as the number of pregnancies increased (p < .05). Participants' mean PAI score had a weak positive relationship with their total body self-perception score (r = .226) and the Appearance Evaluation, Fitness Evaluation, Health Orientation, Fitness Orientation, and Body Areas Satisfaction subscales (p < .05).

Conclusion: Prenatal attachment levels were greater if participants were pleased with their appearances and bodies, approached their physical fitness positively, and engaged in practices to increase their health and physical capacity. We recommend conducting education programs concentrating on adaptation to pregnancy that enable women to evaluate their bodies more positively during pregnancy, to adopt behaviors to improve their health in pregnancy, and to increase prenatal attachment.

Keywords: body image; maternal–fetal relations; object attachment; pregnancy; pregnant women.