The Role of Pregnant Women's Attachment Relationships in Predicting Maternal Adjustment during Pregnancy

Maternal adjustment is a woman's response to the challenges she experiences from the moment pregnancy is discovered until the baby is born. This adjustment is achieved gradually during pregnancy and has considerable importance. Studies in the field of maternal adjustment have mainly focused on the importance of this factor in maternal postpartum experience, whereas less attention has been paid to the identification of predictors of this adjustment in pregnant women. The aim of this study was to explain the role of pregnant women's attachment relationships in predicting maternal adjustment during pregnancy. The methodology was correlational, and the statistical population consisted of pregnant women in the six-to-nine-month gestation period of their first pregnancy. 317 Iranian pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria were selected by convenient sampling. Before giving birth, these participants filled out the online Self-Evaluation Questionnaires (SEQ) and the form Experiencing Close Relationships (ECR-RS). The methods of the Pearson correlation analysis and linear regression were used for data analysis. The results show that higher anxiety and avoidance in attachment relationships are significant predictors of pregnant women's low maternal adjustment during pregnancy. Likewise, a strongest linear relationship was established between maternal adjustment and anxious and avoidant attachment to a partner. All in all, the findings reveal that in the situation of the stressful transition to parenthood and the presence of an insecure attachment schema (especially to a partner), participants experienced depression and anxiety, the formation of negative attitudes toward maternity, and the development of negative conditions for the fetuses.