Early Parental Adaptation, Prenatal Distress, and High-Risk Pregnancy

To examine the examined the effects of high risk pregnancy and prenatal distress on parental postnatal adaptation.

A sample of 111 expecting parents, consisting of 32 high risk pregnancy (HRP) mothers and 21 spouses and 36 matched low risk pregnancy (LRP) mothers and 22 spouses completed reports of depression symptoms (BDI) and pregnancy related concerns prenatally. At three months postpartum, parent-infant direct observations and reports of parenting alliance (PAI), stress (PSI-SF), satisfaction and efficacy (PSOC) were gathered. Data was analyzed with GLM multivariate analyses and the actor-partner interdependence model.

Parents' prenatal BDI predicted postnatal parental stress. BDI and concerns predicted postnatal satisfaction, but only for mothers. Mother's concerns predicted low maternal and high paternal parenting alliance. Partner effect was found so that high concerns predicted high reports of parenting alliance by spouse. Mean-group differences were found between HRP and LRP during parent-infant observations, so that HRP parents displayed lower sensitivity and reciprocity.

Prenatal distress, and to some degree high risk pregnancy, are risk factors that may interfere with the early formation of parent-infant relationship. Clinical implications of these findings are presented.