HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS Psychiatric Bulletin Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bifulco, A. Articles by Henshaw, C. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bifulco, A. Articles by Henshaw, C. A.

Maternal attachment style and depression associated with childbirth: preliminary results from a European and US cross-cultural study

Lifespan Research Group, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

Barbara Figueiredo, PhD

Department of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

Nicole Guedeney, MD

Department of Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France

Laura L. Gorman, PhD

Iowa Depression and Clinical Research Center, University of Iowa, USA

Sandra Hayes, MPsychSc

Department of Psychology, University College Dublin, Ireland

Maria Muzik, MD

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, USA

Elisabeth Glatigny-Dallay

University Department of Psychiatry, Centre Hospitalier Charles Perrens, Bordeaux, France

Vania Valoriani, PhD

Department of Neurologic and Psychiatric Sciences, University of Florence, Italy

Martin H. Kammerer, Dr med

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Carol A. Henshaw, MD MRCPsych

School of Postgraduate Medicine, Keele University, UK

TCS–PND Group^*

Correspondence: Dr Antonia Bifulco, Lifespan Research Group, Royal Holloway, University of London, 11 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3RA, UK. Tel: 0207 307 8615; e-mail: A.Bifulco{at}rhul.ac.uk

Declaration of interest None.

^* TCS–PND Group membership and funding detailed in Acknowledgements, p. iv, this supplement.

Background Insecure attachment style relates to major depression in women, but its relationship to depression associated with childbirth is largely unknown. A new UK-designed measure, the Attachment Style Interview (ASI), has potential for cross-cultural use as a risk marker for maternal disorder.

Aims To establish there liability of the ASI across centres, its stability over a 9-month period, and its associations with social context and major or minor depression.

Method The ASI was used by nine centres antenatally on 204 women, with 174 followed up 6 months postnatally. Interrater reliability was tested and the ASI was repeated on a subset of 96 women. Affective disorder was assessed by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV.

Results Satisfactory interrater reliability was achieved with relatively high stability rates at follow-up. Insecure attachment related to lower social class position and more negative social context. Specific associations of avoidant attachment style (angry–dismissive or withdrawn) with antenatal disorder, and anxious style (enmeshed or fearful) with postnatal disorder were found.

Conclusions The ASI can be used reliably in European and US centres as a measure for risk associated with childbirth. Its use will contribute to the oretically under pinned preventive action for disorders associated with childbirth.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. Asten, M. N. Marks, and M. R. Oates Aims, measures, study sites and participant samples of the Transcultural Study of Postnatal Depression The British Journal of Psychiatry, February 1, 2004; 184 (46): s3 - s9. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. L. Gorman, M. W. O'Hara, B. Figueiredo, S. Hayes, F. Jacquemain, M. H. Kammerer, C. M. Klier, S. Rosi, G. Seneviratne, and A.-L. Sutter-Dallay Adaptation of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders for assessing depression in women during pregnancy and post-partum across countries and cultures The British Journal of Psychiatry, February 1, 2004; 184 (46): s17 - s23. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]