A critical review of prenatal attachment research

Prenatal attachment is a construct not only intriguing for nurse researchers, but also the object of attention from the lay public and popular media. Promoting prenatal attachment is assumed to have benefits particularly for children. Pregnant women are admonished that development of a successful mother-child relationship begins before birth and is their responsibility. The prenatal attachment research literature was reviewed to determine if the last statement could be supported. The current state of this body of literature is presented in this article along with a critique of the research studies and suggestions for future research.