This article reports the possible clinical implications of an empirical examination of mental representations, in particular that of maternal representations before and after the birth of a first child. The study investigates maternal representations including the mental organization of perceptions, thoughts and feelings of priminparous women during the third trimester (seventh month) of pregnancy and four months postbirth. We focus on the representations that a woman has of herself, her baby, of her partner, herself as mother and her own mother during pregnancy and the impact of a major life event, namely the birth of the child on those representations.
Ammaniti, M.
, Baumgartner, E., Candelori, C., Perucchini, P., Pola, M., Tambelli, R., & Zampino, Francesca (1992). Representations and narratives during pregnancy. Journal of Infant Mental Health, 13(2), 167-179.
2.
Bates, J.E.
, & Bayles, K. (1984). Objective and subjective components in mothers' perceptions of their children from the age of 6 months to 3 years. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 30, 111-130.
3.
Caplan, G.
(1961). An Approach to Community Health. New York: Grune & Stratton.
4.
Carey, W.B.
(1970). A simplified method for measuring infant temperament. Journal of Paediatrics, 77, 188-194.
5.
Condon, JT.
, & Dunn, D.J. (1988). Nature and determinants of parent-to-infant attachment in the early post-natal period. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27(3), 293-299.
6.
Crowell, J.A.
, & Feldman, S.S. (1988). Assessment of mothers' working models of relationships: Some clinical implications. Infant Mental Health Journal, 10(3) 173-184.
7.
Darley, J.
, & Fazio, R. (1980). Expectancy confirmation processes arising in the social interaction sequence. American Psychologist, 35, 867-881.
8.
Diener, Marissa L.
, Goldstein, Lauren H., & Mangelsdorf, Sarah C. (1995). The role of prenatal expectations in parents' reports of infant temperament. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 41(2), 172-190.
9.
Emde, R.N.
(1994). Three roads intersecting: Changing viewpoints in the psychoanalytic story of Oedipus. In M. Ammaniti & D.N. Stern (Eds.), Psychoanalysis and development: Representations and narratives. New York: New York University Press.
10.
Freud, S.
(1914/1945). Remembering, repeating and working-through. (Further recommendations on the technique of psycho-analysis) In J. Strachey (Ed.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 14). London: Hogarth.
11.
Goldsmith, H.H.
, Losoya, S.H., Bradshaw, D.L., & Campos, J.J. (1994). The genetics of personality: A twin study of the five factor model and parental-offspring analyses. In C. Halverson, R. Martin, & G. Kohnstamm (Eds.), The developing structure of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
12.
Grossman, K.
, Fremmer-Bombik, E., Rudolph, J., & Grossman, K.E. (1988). Maternal attachment representation as related to patterns of infant-mother attachment and maternal care during the first year. In R.A. Hinde & J. Stevenson-Hinde (Eds.), Relationships within families: Mutual influences (p. 241-260). Oxford: Clavendon Press.
13.
Leifer, M.
(1977). Psychological changes accompanying pregnancy and motherhood. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 95, 55-96.
14.
Lumley, J.
(1982). Attitudes to the foetus among primigravidae. Australian Paediatric Journal, 18, 106-109.
15.
Main, M.
, & Goldwyn, R. (1984). Predicting rejection of her infant from mother's representation of her own experience: Implications for the abused-abusing intergenerational cycle. Child Abuse and Neglect, 8, 203-217.
16.
Main, M.
, & Goldwyn, R. (1985). Adult attachment classification and rating system. Unpublished manuscript. University of California, Berkeley.
17.
Main, M.
, Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1-2, Serial No. 209): 66-104.
18.
Matarazzo, O.
(1992). Representational maternal styles during pregnancy and after childbirth. Relazione presentata al WAIPAD. Fifth World Congress, Chicago, IL: 9-13.
19.
Mebert, C.J.
(1991). Dimensions of subjectivity in parents' ratings of infant temperament. Child Development, 62, 352-361.
20.
Mebert, C.J.
, & Kalinowski, M.F. (1986). Parents' expectations and perceptions of infant temperament: `Pregnancy status' differences. Infant Behavior and Development, 9, 321-334.
21.
Nunn, K.P.
(1995). Risk, vulnerability and resilience in childhood: The background for prevention. In B. Raphael, & D. Burrows (Eds.), Handbook of studies on preventive psychiatry. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
22.
Rothbart, M.K.
, & Goldsmith, H.H. (1985). Three approaches to the study of infant temperament. Developmental Review, 5, 237-250.
23.
Sandler, J.
(1962). Psychoanalytic psychology. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 35, 91-100.
24.
(Reprinted from Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 17, 128-145, 1962.)
25.
Sandler, J.
(1994). Fantasy, Defense and the Representational World. Infant Mental Health Journal, 15, 26-35.
26.
Stern, D.N.
(1994). One way to build a clinically relevant baby. Infant Mental Health Journal, 15(1), 9-25.
27.
Stern, D.N.
(1995) The Motherhood Constellation. A Unified View of Parent-Infant Psychotherapy. New York: Harper Collins.
28.
Zeanah, C.H.
, & Anders, T.F. (1987). Subjectivity in parent-infant relationships. A discussion of internal working models. Infant Mental Health Journal, 8, 237-250.
29.
Zeanah, C.H.
, Anders, T.F., Seifer, R., & Stern, D.N. (1989). Implications of research on infant development for psychodynamic theory and practice. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2(5), 657-668.
30.
Zeanah, C.H.
, & Barton, M.L. (1989). Introduction: Internal representations and parent-infant relationships. Journal of Infant Mental Health, 10(3), 135-235.
31.
Zeanah, C.H.
, Keener, M.A., & Anders, T.F. (1985). Prenatal perception of infant personality: A preliminary investigation. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 204-210.
32.
Zeanah, C.H.
, Keener, M. A., & Anders, T.F. (1986). Adolescent mothers' prenatal fantasies and working models of their infants. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 49, 193-203.
33.
Zeanah, C.H.
, Keener, M.A., Stewart, L., & Anders, T.F. (1985). Prenatal perception of infant personality: A preliminary investigation. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24(2), 204-210.
