• Hidekazu Nishigori, Taku Obara, Toshie Nishigori, Hirohito Metoki, Satoshi Mizuno, Mami Ishikuro, Kasumi Sakurai, Hirotaka Hamada, Zen Watanabe, Tetsuro Hoshiai, Takahiro Arima, Kunihiko Nakai, Shinichi Kuriyama, Nobuo Yaegashi, and Miyagi Regional Center of Japan Environment & Children’s Study Group.
• Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
• J. Matern. Fetal. Neonatal. Med. 2020 Aug 1; 33 (16): 2789-2796.

AbstractObjective: To survey the frequency and risk factors for father-to-infant lack of affection (LA) and anger/rejection (AR) bonding failure at 1 month postpartum.Material and methods: The study participants enrolled in the prospective birth cohort study of an adjunct study of the Japan Environment & Children's Study. Bonding failure, psychological distress during pregnancy and postnatal depression symptoms were evaluated using the Japanese version of the Mother-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS-J), the Kessler 6-item (K6) psychological distress scale and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS-J). This study extracted relative factors based on approximately 10% occupancy of the total high scores in MIBS-J subscales as a cut-off for bonding failure. The cut-off scores on the paternal EPDS-J were eight, on maternal EPDS-J was 9, and on the K6 psychological distress scale score was 13.Results: A total of 1008 couples who had single delivery were assessed at 1 month postpartum, respectively. The prevalence of paternal MIBS-J_LA scores ≥4 was 8.3%, MIBS-J_AR scores ≥3 was 7.9%, and EPDS-J scores ≥8 was 11.2%, respectively. In the multiple logistics analysis, paternal MIBS-J_LA scores ≥4 were significantly associated with maternal MIBS-J_LA score ≥3 (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.814; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.377-5.747), mental intimate partner violence (IPV) against the mother during pregnancy (AOR 2.176; 95% CI: 1.185-3.997), maternal K6 psychological distress scale score ≥13 (AOR 2.980; 95% CI: 1.317-6.745), paternal EPDS-J score ≥8 (AOR 3.227; 95% CI: 1.767-5.892), and a history of mental health disorder (AOR 4.125; 95% CI: 1.423-11.963). Paternal MIBS-J_AR scores ≥3 were significantly associated with maternal MIBS-J_AR scores ≥3 (AOR 5.082; 95% CI: 2.453-10.529), a history of physical IPV against the mother during pregnancy (AOR 5.230; 95% CI: 1.016-26.920), paternal K6 psychological distress scale score ≥13 (AOR 4.145; 95% CI: 1.311-13.107), and paternal EPDS-J scores ≥8 (AOR 4.479; 95% CI: 2.503-8.013). In Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient analyses between paternal and maternal MIBS-J score, MIBS-J_LA score was r = 0.2112, p < .0001, and MIBS-J_AR score was r = 0.3281, p < .0001.Conclusion: Father-to-infant lack of affection bonding failure was associated with mother-to-infant lack of affection bonding failure, mental IPV against mother during pregnancy, maternal psychological distress during pregnancy, paternal postpartum depression symptoms, and history of paternal mental health disorders. Father-to-infant anger/rejection bonding failure was associated with mother-to-infant anger/rejection bonding failure, physical IPV against mother during pregnancy, paternal psychological distress during pregnancy, and paternal postpartum depression symptoms. Since bonding failure is a risk factor for infant maltreatment, further investigations are recommended to fully assess these associations to resolve parent perinatal mental health issues for preventing father-to-infant bonding failure.

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