Original ArticlesThe Role of Childhood Trauma on Prenatal Attachment A Cross-Sectional StudyCan Caglayan, Ilkin Seda MD∗; Uzun Cicek, Ayla MD†; Yilmaz, Yavuz MD‡; Sahin, Ayse Ecem§ Author Information Departments of ∗Obstetrics and Gynecology †Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ‡Psychiatry, Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine §Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine, Sivas, Turkey. Send reprint requests to Ayla Uzun Cicek, MD, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Cumhuriyet University, Yenisehir, Kayseri St, No. 43, 58140 Sivas, Turkey. E-mail: [email protected]. Ilkin Seda Can Caglayan, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2029-7281 Ayla Uzun Cicek, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2274-3457 Yavuz Yılmaz, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7572-5474 Ayse Ecem Sahin, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1909-0424 The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 211(4):p 281-288, April 2023. | DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000001610 Buy Metrics Abstract Although the quality of prenatal attachment is a strong predictor of the quality of postnatal mother-infant attachment and mother-child interaction, little is known about the specific impacts of maternal exposure to childhood traumas, and it deserves more attention. This study was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between childhood traumas and pren1atal attachment levels. Prenatal attachment and childhood trauma were evaluated in 104 pregnant women using the Prenatal Attachment Scale and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Our results showed that all kinds of childhood traumatic experiences were associated with lower prenatal attachment scores. Also, more severe childhood traumas were strongly associated with weaker prenatal attachment. This study contributes to the very limited literature on the prenatal attachment of expectant mothers with childhood traumas by emphasizing the importance of pregnant women's exposure to childhood traumas as a risk factor for low prenatal attachment. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
