The Relationship Between Prenatal Parental Representations and Child’s Temperament

Lucarelli L.;Sechi C.;Chatoor I.;Vismara L.

2022-01-01

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Abstract

Objectives: Several studies have underlined that the quality of parental representations during pregnancy may affect the caregiving system (Foley and Hughes, 2018; Vreeswijk et al, 2015) and consequently the child’s emotional and physiological regulation. However, few studies have focused on the differences between mothers and fathers and how their quality of prenatal parental representations may be associated with the postnatal perception of their child’s temperament. Therefore, the aim of this longitudinal study is to examine whether mother’s and father’s mental representations of herself/himself as a parent, assessed at the seventh month of pregnancy (Time 1), are different and whether the perception of infant temperament at 3 months (Time 2) is different with respect to the prenatal parental representations. Methods: The sample consisted of 40 couples (80 parents) and their healthy babies (60% boys, 40% girls). At Time 1, parents were interviewed by means of the Interview of Maternal and Paternal Representations During Pregnancy Revised (IRMAG-R; IRPAG-R; Ammaniti et al, 2013). At Time 2, mothers and fathers completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R; Gartstein and Rothbart, 2003) to describe their infant’s temperament. Results: Analyses showed no statistically significant differences with respect to maternal and paternal representations. Both mothers and fathers with unbalanced mental representations perceive their infant as more negatively responsive compared to parents with balanced mental representations. Conclusions: The findings of the present study underscore the importance of parents’ prenatal mental representation on the perception of their infant’s temperament. In the presence of prenatal not coherent representations of the child and of themselves as parents, the parents tend to attribute more negative regulatory skills to their child, jeopardizing the development of a sensitive and responsive parent-infant relationship.