Childbirth Experience Associated With Maternal and Paternal Stress During the First Year, but Not Child Attachment

Women, as well as their partners, can experience childbirth in many different ways. A negative childbirth experience may have adverse effects on the entire family, resulting, for instance, in parental stress symptoms and weakened parent-child relationship. Parental stress, without sufficient resources to compensate for it, may also in and of itself negatively influence the parent-child relationship. This study aims to contribute to the current knowledge of the psychological effects of childbirth experience by using longitudinal data collected using both self-reports and observational measures, as well as multiple data sources (i.e., mothers and partners). The aim of this study is to investigate whether 1) women’s retrospective birth experiences are related to maternal and paternal parenting stress, 2) birth experience is indirectly associated with child attachment via maternal stress, and 3) birth experience is directly related to child attachment. Data were collected from a mixed sample of community and at-risk primipara women (N = 1364), as well as from the partners and children. Retrospective childbirth experience is measured 3 months postpartum with a latent factor consisting of five items asking about the feelings that women have about their childbirth. Parental stress is measured at 3 months postpartum for partners and 3 and 12 months postpartum for mothers using the adult domain of the Parental Stress Index (PSI), which is a validated self-report on stress symptoms related to parenting. Finally, parent-child attachment is observed in a subsample of 223 women and children at 12 months postpartum with the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP). Results show that women’s birth experience is significantly related to both mothers’ and their partners’ parenting stress. However, birth experience is not related to child attachment, neither directly nor indirectly via maternal stress. These findings emphasize the impact that childbirth may have on both parents. Future research is still needed to further investigate which protective factors may weaken the association between birth experience and child attachment.