Poster #32 - Timing of Maternal Trauma History, Emotion Dysregulation, and Antenatal Attachment

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Background: Antenatal attachment (i.e., an expectant mother’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward her developing baby; Condon, 1993) has been associated with infant social-affective development, maternal postnatal health, and parent-child relationship quality (Le Bas et al., 2022; Figueiredo & Costa, 2009). Maternal trauma history—particularly childhood maltreatment and interpersonal traumas—has been associated with reduced antenatal attachment (Sancho-Rossignol et al., 2018). Such traumatic experiences may interfere with the development of capacities central to effective parenting, such as emotion regulation (Kerig, 2020). Although most research on parenting has focused on the legacy of childhood trauma, interpersonal traumas may occur during adulthood and pregnancy, which also may influence antenatal attachment. For instance, pregnancy is a sensitive developmental period during which traumatic experiences can recalibrate neurobiological functioning (Gunnar & Howland, 2022), which may have implications for mothers’ feelings towards their developing babies. Thus, we tested the developmental timing of maternal trauma on antenatal attachment and hypothesized that maternal childhood trauma exposure would predict lower antenatal attachment above and beyond traumas experienced during adulthood and pregnancy. We also hypothesized that this negative association would be significant only for women who reported high levels of prenatal emotion dysregulation.

Method: Third-trimester pregnant women in the western United States (N = 184; 21.2% Latina) completed the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS; Condon, 2015); Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004); and Traumatic Experiences of Betrayal Across the Lifespan (TEBL; Kaliush et al., unpublished). High global MAAS scores indicate more frequent and positive thoughts and feelings towards the baby. The TEBL asks participants to indicate which of 22 traumatic life experiences, such as domestic violence exposure, sexual abuse, and physical neglect, occurred during three distinct developmental periods: childhood (age 0 to 17), adulthood (age 18 to current pregnancy), and current pregnancy.

Results: We used hierarchical linear regression to test maternal trauma and emotion dysregulation as predictors of antenatal attachment. Results indicated that higher levels of trauma during pregnancy predicted lower antenatal attachment (B = -.57, p < .001) above and beyond trauma experienced during childhood (B = .01, p = .95) and adulthood (B = .37, p = .06). In addition, difficulties with emotion regulation during pregnancy predicted lower antenatal attachment (B = -.06, p < .001). However, prenatal emotion dysregulation did not moderate the association between prenatal trauma and antenatal attachment (B = .01, p = .25). Finally, across all models, maternal ethnicity emerged as a significant predictor of antenatal attachment, such that identifying as Latina (versus non-Latina) was associated with higher antenatal attachment (B = 2.78, p = .01).

Discussion: These results suggest that pregnancy is a distinctly critical time for expectant mothers to establish strong, positive thoughts and feelings towards their developing babies. These findings underscore the importance of prevention and intervention efforts during pregnancy that target women’s experiences with trauma and emotion dysregulation.

Authors

• Raina Miller, University of Utah
  Presenting Author

• Parisa R. Kaliush, University of Utah

• Patricia K Kerig, University of Utah

• Liz Conradt, Duke University

• Sheila E Crowell, University of Utah