Bifulco, Antonia, Figueiredo, B, Guedeney, N, Gorman, L.L, Hayes, S, Muzik, M, Glatigny-Dallay, E, Valoriani, V, Kammerer, M.H and henshaw, C.A. (2004) Maternal attachment style and depression associated with childbirth: preliminary results from a European and US cross-cultural study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 184 (Suppl. 46).
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Background Insecure attachment style relates tomajordepressionin women, but its relationshipto depression associatedwith childbirth islargely unknown.AnewUK-designedmeasure, the Attachment Style Interview(ASI), has potential for cross-culturaluse as a risk marker formaternal disorder. Aims To establishthereliabilityoftheASI acrosscentres, itsstabilityover a 9-month period, andits associationswithsocial contextandmajororminordepression. Method The ASIwas used bynine centres antenatallyon 204 women, with 174 followedup 6monthspostnatally. Interrater reliabilitywas tested andthe ASIwas repeated on a subsetof 96 women.Affective disorderwas assessed bymeans ofthe Structured Clinical Interview forDSM^IV. Results Satisfactoryinterrater reliabilitywas achievedwithrelativelyhigh stabilityrates at follow-up.Insecure attachment relatedtolower social class position andmorenegative social context. Specific associations of avoidant attachment style (angry^dismissive or withdrawn)with antenataldisorder, and anxious style (enmeshed or fearful)with postnataldisorderwere found. Conclusions TheASIcanbeused reliablyin EuropeanandUS centres as a measureforriskassociatedwithchildbirth. Itsusewillcontributetotheoretically underpinnedpreventive actionfor disorders associatedwithchildbirth. Declaration of interest None.
This is a Submitted version This version's date is: 2004 This item is not peer reviewed
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