Self-reliance during pregnancy: A correlate with social support and adult attachment.
Item
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Title
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Self-reliance during pregnancy: A correlate with social support and adult attachment.
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Identifier
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AAI9207116
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identifier
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9207116
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Creator
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Reeves, Mary Elizabeth.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Arietta Slade
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Date
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1991
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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 | Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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The present study investigates the theoretical notion that a pregnant woman's internal working model of attachment will influence her capacity to recognize and express her need for support and to see herself as someone who can be relied upon by others, including her baby. Data for the present study were gathered on 17 primaparous women during their third trimester of pregnancy. The measures used were part of the larger study protocol and collected in two separate interviews. All women were interviewed individually about their attachment-related experiences with their own parents (The Adult Attachment Interview), and their experiences of pregnancy (The Pregnancy Interview). They were also asked about the amount of support they received during their pregnancy and their satisfaction with that support (The Crockenberg Social Support Scale).;A coding system that assesses self-reliance was developed by the author. Transcripts of the Pregnancy Interview were used to assess individual differences in women's capacity to see themselves as supportive, to recognize their needs for support and to identify others who were capable of giving support. The subjects were given an attachment classification of secure or insecure, based on the scoring of the transcript of their attachment interviews and a measure of high or low perceived social support from the social support interview.;The findings support the hypothesis that pregnant women who were rated as securely attached on the basis of the attachment interview were more likely to see themselves as supportive figures, to recognize the baby's needs for support as well as their own needs for help and support and to see others who are willing and able as capable of giving them support. Women who were rated insecurely attached were also more likely to have difficulty recognizing their needs and demonstrated either compulsive self-reliance or compulsive reliance upon others. Some women demonstrated aspects of both types of rigid reliance upon self and other and were overwhelmed by some aspects of pregnancy and parenting as well as overconfident at times. The hypothesis that women's security of attachment would be related to their perceived satisfaction with social support was not supported in this study.
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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.
