THE ROLE OF PRENATAL EXPECTATIONS IN PARENTS REPORTS OF INFANT TEMPERAMENT

The associations were examined among parents' characteristics, their p renatal expectations for and postpartum perceptions of infant temperam ent, and observers' ratings of temperament. During pregnancy and at 3 months postpartum, 70 primiparous women and their husbands completed s everal mood and anxiety questionnaires. Women completed prenatally Tel legen's Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. Prenatal expectati ons for temperament were assessed with use of a modified version of Ba tes' Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ). At 3 months postpartu m, parents and observers rated infant temperament on the ICQ. Results indicated that mothers and fathers shared expectations for the emotion al expressivity of their infant, bur differed in expectations for unpr edictability and unadaptability. Parents' postpartum ratings of temper ament were much more similar than their expectations. Observers' ratin gs of temperament were modestly correlated with parents' ratings. Regr ession analyses showed that the best predictors of parents' postpartum ICQ ratings were their prenatal expectations.