Nella mente del genitore: un confronto sulle narrazioni materne e paterne in gravidanza

Objective: The aim has been to analyze parental narratives during the last trimester of pregnancy in order to investigate if they stand for peculiar styles of parenting. Specifically possible similarities and differences in the construction of maternal and paternal representations in women and men expecting the first baby have been assessed. Method: 624 future new-parents have been selected (312 women and 312 men) in public and private services which follow parents until the birth of their baby. Women had an age between 25 and 43 years, while men were between 27 and 45. Between the 28degrees and the 34degrees week IRMAG and IRPAG, two clinical semi-structured interviews, have been administered to both groups. Results: Results related to maternal and paternal representations seem to support the hypothesis that during the last trimester of pregnancy both women and men have yet elaborated an adequately defined and emotionally characterized representation of the self as mother/father and of their baby. Therefore future parents and mothers show both a different distribution of the styles of parental representations and specific differences among them in the dimensions underlying the representation of the self and the representation of the baby. Conclusions: Specifically, the majority of parents, with a similar frequency in mothers and fathers, would develop integrated/balanced representations on the sense of becoming parent. A minor part would develop non integrated and ambivalent or restricted/disinvested representations of the self, of the role of parent as of the child with a huge difference in the distribution of these styles in men and women. Indeed fathers would develop a major number of restricted/disinvested representations, in which a strong emotional control is predominant with mechanism of rationalization with respect to becoming a father and with respect to the child. Differently, mothers show a less obvious prevalence of ambivalent non integrated representations characterized by conflicting behaviours with respect to their own motherhood or with respect to their baby. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)