Flykt Marjo, Palosaari Esa, Lindblom Jallu, Vänskä Mervi, Poikkeus Piia, Repokari Leena, Tiitinen Aila, Tulppala Maija, Punamäki Raija-Leena
School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tampere.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital.
J Fam Psychol. 2014 Apr;28(2):148-59. doi: 10.1037/a0036050. Epub 2014 Mar 3.
Parent-child relationship is created already in prenatal fantasies and expectations of the child-to-be. Negative violation of these expectations after the child is born is known to be harmful for the parent-child relationship. Yet, research is scarce about the medical and psychological factors contributing to violated expectations (VE). This study models the role of parent-, delivery- and infant-related underlying mechanisms for VE. It further compares parents with assisted reproductive treatment (ART) and spontaneous conception (SC), and primi- and multiparous couples. The couples (n = 743) separately filled in questionnaires concerning their prenatal expectations (T1) and 2 months postnatal representations (T2) of intimacy and autonomy in the relationship with their child, measured with Subjective Family Picture Test. A negative or positive discrepancy indicated violated expectations. The parent-related (mental health and marital quality), delivery-related (maternal and paternal birth experience, unplanned Caesarean, and amount of analgesia) and infant-related (infant health problems, difficult infant characteristics, and parental worry) factors were assessed at T2. Results show that among mothers, the associations were mostly indirect and mediated via mental health problems. Among fathers, the associations were direct, marital problems most crucially predicting VE. ART fathers were less susceptible to VE resulting from infant-related problems than SC fathers, but more susceptible to VE resulting from delivery problems. Delivery- and infant-related factors also predicted VE differently among primi- and multiparous mothers. Considering factors that contribute to VE is important when working with couples in transition to parenthood.
亲子关系在对未出生孩子的产前幻想和期望中就已形成。众所周知，孩子出生后对这些期望的负面违背对亲子关系有害。然而，关于导致期望违背（VE）的医学和心理因素的研究却很匮乏。本研究模拟了与父母、分娩和婴儿相关的潜在机制在期望违背中的作用。它还比较了接受辅助生殖治疗（ART）和自然受孕（SC）的父母，以及初产妇和经产妇夫妇。这些夫妇（n = 743）分别填写了关于他们与孩子关系中亲密感和自主性的产前期望（T1）和产后2个月表现（T2）的问卷，通过主观家庭图片测试进行测量。负面或正面差异表明期望违背。在T2评估了与父母相关的因素（心理健康和婚姻质量）、与分娩相关的因素（母亲和父亲的分娩经历、意外剖宫产和镇痛量）以及与婴儿相关的因素（婴儿健康问题、难养型婴儿特征和父母担忧）。结果表明，在母亲中，这些关联大多是间接的，通过心理健康问题介导。在父亲中，这些关联是直接的，婚姻问题最关键地预测期望违背。与自然受孕的父亲相比，接受辅助生殖治疗的父亲因与婴儿相关的问题导致期望违背的可能性较小，但因分娩问题导致期望违背的可能性较大。与分娩和婴儿相关的因素在初产妇和经产妇母亲中对期望违背的预测也有所不同。在与处于为人父母转变期的夫妇合作时，考虑导致期望违背的因素很重要。
