These unique emotions and behaviors may be represented by an affiliation and interaction with the unborn baby and the desire of the parent to know and to be with the unborn baby. Prenatal attachment can be described as the parent’s emotions, perceptions, and behaviors that are related to the fetus. It is recognized that this bond already starts to develop before birth and that building a bond or ‘relationship’ with the unborn child is a key developmental task for a successful psychological adjustment of pregnant women. Maternal emotional investment in the infant, however, does not start from birth onwards. Klaus and Kennell introduced the term ‘maternal bonding’ and defined the bond between mothers and their newborns as a biologically based emotional investment in the infant. Far less is known about the development of feelings of attachment in parents towards their children. Also studies and knowledge about the representations of attachment relationships that adolescents or adults have of their own parents are increasing. Over the past decades, attachment research has largely focused on the quality of the attachment relationship that infants develop in the course of the first year of life with their parents, in particular the mother. However, further research focusing on its capacity as a screening instrument (to identify parents with serious bonding problems) and its sensitivity to change (necessary for the use in evaluation of intervention studies) is needed, in order to prove its clinical value. The present findings provide support that the PRAM is as a valid, quick, and easy-to-administer instrument of parent-infant bonding. Age and parity were both found significantly related to M/PAAS and PRAM scores. Results show that the PRAM was significantly positively associated to a self-report questionnaire of antenatal attachment in both expectant mothers and fathers. MethodsĪt 26 weeks gestational age, 352 primi- or multiparous pregnant women and 268 partners from a community based sample filled in the PRAM and the M/PAAS (Maternal/Paternal Antenatal Attachment Scale, Condon, 1985/1993). The present study examined a) whether a simple non-verbal (i.e., pictorial) measure of attachment (Pictorial Representation of Attachment Measure: PRAM) is a valid instrument to assess parental representations of the antenatal relationship with the fetus in expectant women and men and b) whether factors such as gender of the parent, parity, and age are systematically related to parental bonding during pregnancy.

Over the past decades, attachment research has predominantly focused on the attachment relationship that infants develop with their parents or that adults had with their own parents.

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