Adult attachment classification and its relationship to the psychological tasks of pregnancy.
Item
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Title
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Adult attachment classification and its relationship to the psychological tasks of pregnancy.
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Identifier
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AAI9029938
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identifier
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9029938
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Creator
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Grunebaum, Laurie Blum.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Arietta Slade
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Date
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1990
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical | Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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Eighteen women in their first pregnancies were given a semi-structured Pregnancy Interview during their eighth month of pregnancy, designed to elicit data reflecting the major areas of concern and emotional significance for the pregnant woman. A coding system was developed to rate women in a number of important areas of their psychological experience and response to pregnancy. All subjects were given an Adult Attachment Interview (Main et. al., 1985) yielding an attachment classification of Secure-Autonomous, Insecure-Dismissing or Insecure-Preoccupied with respect to attachment. Seven subjects were classified as Secure-Autonomous, six as Dismissing and five as Preoccupied.;The major finding in this pilot sample is that those women classified as secure can be differentiated from those classified as insecure in the way that they negotiate psychological tasks of pregnancy. Statistical analyses revealed that the Pregnancy Coding Scales demonstrate good internal consistency for assessing womens' psychological response to pregnancy.;Two out of the five scales proved to be most sensitive to differences based upon secure versus insecure attachment classification, wherein women classified as secure: (1) demonstrate the capacity to recognize and tolerate the idea of their babies' dependency needs as well as the idea of their separteness and individuality, demonstrate an awareness and acceptance of the potential for conflict within the mother-child relationship (Scale 1); and (2) tend to have a highly developed and articulated sense of a relationship to their unborn babies (Scale V). In contrast, women classified as insecure (Dismissing or Preoccupied), (1) tend to have difficulty with the ideas of both their babies ' dependency needs and their separateness (Scale 1); and (2) tend to have less well developed or minimally developed and articulated senses of a relationship to their babies (Scale V).;The results further suggest that the three attachment groups appear to be most distinguishable from one another on a measure of overall affect tone in relation to pregnancy (Scale II).;Contrary to what was hypothesized, the three attachment groups could not be clearly distinguished on a measure of how they negotiate their relationships to their own mothers. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
