Development of a tool for the measurement of maternal attachment during pregnancy.

A 24-item scale with five subscales was developed to measure the construct of maternal-fetal attachment during pregnancy and tested on 71 subjects in the third trimester of pregnancy. Content validity was built into the scale. A coefficient of reliability of .85 was demonstrated for the scale with the reliability of the subscales ranging from .52 to .73. Scores of the MFA scale were positively correlated with the amount of available social support reported by women and with their perceptions of babies three days after birth. There was a negative association between MFA scores and the amount of stress perceived by the women. Further refinement of the scale is indicated.