PREGNANCY AND PARENTING IN ADOLESCENCE: CORRELATES OF MATERNAL-FETAL ATTACHMENT AND QUALITY OF THE HOME ENVIRONMENT THE ADOLESCENT PROVIDES FOR HER INFANT.
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 197
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Sociology, Individual and Family Studies.
Description: The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships among the following variables: maternal-fetal attachment in pregnant adolescents, the quality of the home environment they later provide for their 3-month-old infants, maternal responsivity, and maternal involvement. Data was collected in two phases. Sixty-one pregnant adolescents, aged 14 to 20, participated in the prenatal phase. Subjects were seen in prenatal clinics at 21-40 weeks' gestation. Forty subjects, a subsample of the prenatal sample of 61, were visited in their homes postnatally when their infants were approximately 3 months old. Subjects were lower- to middle-income and represented three ethnic groups (Hispanic, black, Caucasian).

Research instruments included: the Maternal-Fetal Attachment (MFA) Scale, Relationship With Mother (RWM) Scale, and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory. The MFA and RWM were administered prenatally, and the HOME was administered postnatally.

Adolescents who were more emotionally attached to their fetuses were married, closer to their delivery date, ethnically white, perceived their relationships with their mothers to be closer, felt they had a closer relationship with the baby's father, and reported more frequent contact with the baby's father. Relationships between MFA and these variables were statistically significant.

Correlates showing statistically significant relationships with a higher quality home environment were: older maternal age, more years of formal schooling, higher SES, breast feeding, living with the baby's father before pregnancy, living with the baby's father during pregnancy, father's involvement with his infant in physical care and taking for outings, fewer people living in the household, and living apart from parents and siblings. A statistically significant relationship was not found between MFA and home environment.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-08, Section: B, page: 2268.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1987.

School code: 0227.