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ABSTRACT: John Bowlby'B theory of human attachment has become widely applied across disciplines and across the stages of human development. This discussion explores the evolution of an application of Bowlby'B theory to the experience of pregnancy, from both maternal and paternal perspectives. Although the theoretical construct of maternal fetal attachment (MFA) requires continued theoretically-driven research, existing studies have associated this proposed construct with health behaviors, marital relationship, depressive symptoms, and the postpartum motherinfant relationship, pointing toward its relevance for academicians and clinicians devoted to the service of women and infants.
KEY WORDS: Attachment, prenatal attachment, prenatal, pregnancy
INTRODUCTION
It would be a gross understatement to write that the subject of attachment has simply enjoyed resurgence in academic interest, for the attention it has drawn, more accurately, has exploded exponentially since its introduction in the 1950's. Psychlnfo, the primary database for psychiatric and psychological research, contained less than 10,000 citations between 1950 and 2000 for the search word "attachment," while the same search for only the last seven years yielded over than 8,000 publications. This growth in attachment theory research has been fueled by its application to every human developmental stage, every type of human relationship, to religious devotion, and even to organizational management. Seldom can a theory boast this breadth of application, not to mention the leap across medical, psychological, social, and business disciplines. John Bowlby, the "father" of attachment theory, would have been impressed.
He would also have taken issue with the notion that the attachment between infant and mother begins long before birth. Attachment, as Bowlby understood it, was a reciprocal behavioral process initiated by the neonate to ensure survival. How could this begin before there was a baby in arms? Nevertheless, a few key individuals, inspired by what they observed between mother and newborn in the hours after birth (as well as the wellspring of grief in mothers experiencing a fetal demise), believed traditional attachment theory explained processes of prenatal bonding in a way clinically meaningful to both medical and psychological communities.
THE FAMILY TREE OF ATTACHMENT THEORY
Bowlby's attachment theory was an amalgam of concepts he took from ethology, cybernetics, information processing, developmental psychology, and psychoanalysis, focusing on the infant's goal to secure maternal response (Bretherton, 1992). He conceptualized...