The Effect of Perceived Birth Trauma in Women With Planned Cesarean Section on Maternal and Paternal Attachment: Path Analysis Model

Abstract

Perceived birth trauma can disrupt parent-infant bonding and affect family dynamics. This study examined the impact of perceived birth trauma on maternal and paternal attachment using path analysis. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted with 134 mother-father pairs in Turkey, 6 months postpartum, following planned cesarean sections. Data were collected using the Traumatic Childbirth Perception Scale, Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale, and Paternal-Infant Attachment Scale. Descriptive statistics and reliability analyses were conducted using R software. Path analysis was performed with the R package “lavaan” to assess direct and indirect relationships. Higher perceived birth trauma was significantly associated with increased maternal bonding difficulties and decreased paternal bonding. A significant negative covariance between maternal and paternal bonding scores indicated interdependent bonding dynamics. The model explained 6% of the variance in maternal bonding and 3.7% in paternal bonding. These findings underscore the need for family-centered, trauma-informed postpartum care to support healthy parent-infant attachment. © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).