Maternal and fetal representations, dimensions of personality, and prenatal attachment in women hospitalized with high-risk pregnancy.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of an expectant mother's personality style, maternal object representations, and ability to develop an internal representation of her fetus upon the quality and intensity of maternal fetal attachment. The exploration of the power of object representations and personality to predict prenatal attachment (also referred to in the literature as antenatal attachment) in the context of hospitalization during high-risk pregnancy would have relevance in both intervention and standard of care for such mothers. Since this is a highly specialized sample of individuals, it is expected that other variables may have predictive value. Earlier depressive episodes, current levels of depression, severity of maternal/fetal risk, and gestational age of the fetus at the onset of complications will be taken into account.