What predicts day-to-day mindfulness of expectant mothers and fathers?
Date
2017
Authors
Russell, Caitlyn, author
Biringen, Zeynep, advisor
Lucas-Thompson, Rachel, committee member
Rosen, Lee, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Mindfulness has been shown to correlate with attachment security, as well as aspects of mental health—however, little is known about these factors during pregnancy for both mothers and fathers. The current study tested associations between day-to-day mindfulness, adult attachment anxiety and avoidance, prenatal attachment, and functional mental health (i.e., measures of stress, anxiety, and depression) in expecting couples. Secondary data from an emotional availability intervention study was analyzed from the pre-intervention portion of the study. Each partner completed questionnaires, and zero order correlations and Hierarchical Multiple Regressions (HMRs) were run to determine predictors of day-to-day mindfulness in mothers, fathers, and the couple. Although individual HMRs for mothers and fathers was not predicted by adult attachment in any way, adult attachment anxiety for the couple was found to be a significant predictor of couples' day-to-day mindfulness during pregnancy, suggesting that the couple as a unit reports being more mindful in their daily life if they are less anxious about their couple relationship. SES and prenatal attachment generally did not explain much of the variance in predicting day-to-day mindfulness for the mother, father, or couple, suggesting that prenatal attachment to the baby does not predict how mindful the expectant family is in their day-to-day life. However, the findings in this study clearly indicate that 'functional mental health' is predictive of day-to-day mindfulness in the mother, father, and couple; and this will be explained for by a variety of analyses and discussed in terms of implications for future research and clinical practice.