Abstract
An Internet survey was conducted on 2000 couples with the aim of identifying paternal-fetal bonding disorders and the factors influencing them. Study instructions were distributed to pregnant women around 20 weeks who came to the hospital for an antenatal health checkup, and questionnaires were collected from 64 respondents. The survey included background, Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ), and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare two groups of PBQ scores by background, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to examine the association between PBQ and EPDS. PBQ scores were significantly higher for “anxiety about care” in the high-income group than in the low-income group, and significantly higher for “rejection and anger” in the no infertility treatment group. Eight fathers (12.9%) had an EPDS above the cutoff; in relation to PBQ and EPDS, fathers with higher EPDS scores had significantly higher PBQ “anxiety about care” and “risk of abuse”.
