Perez, Alejandra;
Panagiotopoulou, Elena;
Vourda, Maria Christina;
Pereira, Mariana;
Mccrory, Eamon;
Roberts, Ruth;
(2025)
Trajectories of change in mothers' parenting confidence and relationship with baby: a 15-month qualitative longitudinal study.
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
, 25
, Article 709. 10.1186/s12884-025-07683-0.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Parents’ experiences and their relationship to their baby undergo various changes over the course of the first year. This is particularly the case for mothers, who still tend to take on the primary caregiver role in most families in the UK. Better understanding the changes mothers experience in the first year is of importance given the impact of the parent-infant relationship for children’s socio-emotional development. METHODS: This qualitative longitudinal study explored first-time mothers’ experience of parenting confidence and relationship with their baby from their third trimester of pregnancy to the end of their babies’ first year of life. This study also examined trajectories of relevant consistent parenting factors: perceived social support, relationship with partner, expectations, and coping mechanisms. The sample consisted of ten first-time expectant mothers from a low-risk community urban sample, all White, the majority married or in committed relationships and with higher education. Participants were interviewed at four time periods (prenatal, 1-, 6-, and 12-months). RESULTS: The findings indicate that in this homogenous, low-risk sample, most mothers’ parenting confidence improved with time, as did their relationship with their baby. However, most faced many changes in their experiences where, overall, the first six months after birth were the most challenging with many mothers feeling disconnected or having strong shifts in their views of relationship with their baby, feeling unsure about how to parent, having unmet prenatal expectations, and diminished partner support. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the complexity of change at multiple levels, both within individuals and within the 15 months of transitioning to motherhood. Consideration of these changes can help inform maternity services and mental health and social care professionals working with expectant parents and those in early parenthood to improve parenting confidence and mother-infant relationships.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Trajectories of change in mothers' parenting confidence and relationship with baby: a 15-month qualitative longitudinal study |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12884-025-07683-0 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-025-07683-0 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Parenting confidence, Mother-infant relationship, Motherhood, Traumatic birth, Pregnancy, Prenatal expectations, Partner support, Prenatal representations, Qualitative, Longitudinal |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10214714 |
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