PATTERNS OF PARENT-FETUS ATTACHMENT AND THE COUVADE SYNDROME: AN APPLICATION OF HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTEGRALITY AS POSTULATED IN THE SCIENCE OF UNITARY HUMAN BEINGS.
Contributors: New York University.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 120
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Using the framework of Martha Rogers (1970; 1980), a theory was derived regarding parent-fetus attachments and the couvade syndrome. It was proposed that fathers may experience their unborn children's presence in a direct manner via a person-environment energy field process. Out of these immediate experiences, father-fetus attachment was expected to emerge. Further, the couvade experiences were expected to occur through a family field integrality, encompassing the fathers, mothers and the developing infants. The fathers' assessments of their attachments were expected to be associated with their couvade experiences, and that mothers' attachment would interact in that relation in a facilitating and increasingly positive way. Out of the family field integrality, it was expected that mothers' attachment would correspond with fathers' couvade experiences.

A descriptive design, using multiple regression analysis, was employed to examine the pattern of the relationships among father-fetal attachment, mother-fetal attachment and couvade levels. The sample of 110 couples was in the third trimester of pregnancy. The sample was described on variables of education, occupation, ethnicity, parity, previous perinatal losses, previous sonograms and amniocentesis, and foreknowledge of the infants' sex. The instruments used were the Paternal-Fetal Attachment Scale (PFA) (Weaver & Cranley, 1983), Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale (MFA) (Cranley, 1981), and couvade measures of incidence, duration, and perceived seriousness, using Clinton's (1985) Health Inventory Scale.

The hypotheses were: (1) A positive relation between father-fetal attachment and couvade; (2) A positive relation between mother-fetal attachment and couvade; (3) An interaction between father-fetal attachment and mother-fetal attachment such that, as mother-fetus attachment increases, the relationship between father-fetal attachment and couvade becomes increasingly positive.

The hypotheses were not supported. Although fathers did appear to have meaningful levels of both PFA and couvade, the relationships were not demonstrated. Consistent with other studies, the most common couvade symptoms were: tiredness, headache, difficulty sleeping, irritability, indigestion, nervousness, backaches, colds, restlessness, and weight gain. The role of mothers in fathers' attachment and their couvade experiences is not clear. An inverse relationship (r = $-$.468, p $<$.001) between FFA and MFA was demonstrated. Theory revisions, alternative explanations, and limitations of the measurements are considered.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-10, Section: B, page: 4455.

Thesis (PH.D.)--NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, 1989.

School code: 0146.