Abstract

A parent who suffered from abuse as a child is a risk factor in child abuse. This study identifies how the attachment nature (IWM)that has during pregnancy characters a woman's attitude about parenthood in each of the different stages of pregnancy. Questionnaires were sent to 1,448 pregnant women by post and 728 replies were collected, with an effective reaponse of 726. It was found that, in the early term, a slight difference in attitude on parenthood existed because of the different IWM tendencies. As pregnancy advanced,women with strong sense of security demonstrated a positive attitude on infants and child-raising, whereas anxious and avoidant women were negative about them, this tendency being even more conspicuous with avoidant women. Amongst feelings harbored over parenthood, a strong relation was seen between emotional and behavioral factors and IWM tendency, but the correlation to the recognition factor was weak in all pregnancy terms. To prevent child abuse, matters need to be addressed during early prgnancy and from the perspective of recognition.