The search for factors affecting father-infant bonding during the Covid-19 pandemic revealed that some findings had already shown evidence, but also revealed relationships with factors related to Covid-19 infection. As for factors related to Covid-19, it was found that caring for the child while the partner or wife is at home on work or maternity leave has a negative impact on bonding between father and infant, while worry or fear related to infection with Covid-19 has no negative impact on the bonding.
The period of the current study was when the prevalence of Covid-19 was spreading across the country, and hospital capacity and healthcare infrastructure remained strained. Therefore, during this period, the third state of emergency was declared in Japan32. The Japanese government had been encouraging companies to introduce telecommuting as a countermeasure against this new coronavirus33, leading to situations where both parents were working at home. As for their children, nursery schools were requested by the government to stay open in principle even during the period when the third state of emergency was declared. However, if children are determined to be in close contact with an infected child with Covid-19, their parents are requested by the municipality to refrain from attending the nursery school34. Therefore, there may have been more occasions than usual for fathers to look after their children at home even when their wives or partners were at home. Men who encountered difficulties in taking care of their children under these circumstances had significantly increased scores on both Lack of Affection and Anger and Rejection in the primipara group, and had significantly increased scores on Lack of Affection in the multipara group. This result was a negative effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on father-infant bonding, as we hypothesized at the beginning of this paper. With the Covid-19 pandemic, men are more prone to social isolation and loneliness15. It is likely that men, especially those who usually spend little time involved in child rearing, were more likely to feel anxious and stressed about taking care of their children under such circumstances. Postpartum anxiety and stress of fathers have been found to affect father-infant bonding5, 6, 25, and similar results were obtained in the present study. Regardless of whether it was the primipara or multipara group, the higher the paternal Edinburgh Postnatal Depression scale scores, the higher the bonding scores (Lack of Affection and Anger and Rejection) were. In the multipara group, worries and anxieties of fathers about pregnancy and childbirth had a negative impact on Anger and Rejection.
Moreover, satisfaction with partner relationships and family functioning may be a factor influencing the perceived difficulty in looking after children when the wife or partner is at home. With regard to relationships with partners, it has been found that poor quality of those relationships also results in poor bonding between parents and children7. In the present study, good partner relationships were associated with lower Lack of Affection scores in both the primipara and multipara groups. In the same way, a poor relationship with the partner had a negative impact on the father-infant bonding. For example, in the primipara group, physical violence from the wife or partner was associated with significantly higher scores on Anger and Rejection, and in the multipara group, sexual intercourse without consent from the wife or partner led to higher scores on Lack of Affection.
Regarding family functioning, the Family APGAR has been found to be a predictor of mother-infant bonding impairments in a study targeting mothers35. The present study also assessed using the Family APGAR and found that in both groups, the better the family functioning, the better the scores on Lack of Affection and Anger and Rejection. Conversely, distress and anxiety in family relationships resulted in significantly higher Anger and Rejection scores.
On the other hand, the study also found that the Covid-19 pandemic had a positive impact on father-infant bonding. Men in the multipara group who spent more time with their children due to the spread of Covid-19 infection were found to have significantly lower Anger and Rejection scores.
Regarding worry and fear related to infection with Covid-19, the bonding scores were reduced. In the primipara group, those who worried about being accused by others of being infected with Covid-19 were associated with decreased scores on Lack of Affection. In the multipara group, greater fear of Covid-19 infection was associated with lower scores on Lack of Affection, and anxiety about one's coworker or neighbor being infected Covid-19 or about the actions of others in preventing infection was associated with lower scores on Anger and Rejection. The previous literature on Covid-19 found that living in an area with high rates of Covid-19 infection and mortality, and high levels of paternal anxiety were associated with paternal parenting stress, indicating a discrepancy between the previous literature and the results of this study13.
As for fathers' childhood experiences, in the primipara group, parents' divorce and experiences with parents saying hurtful things or insulting them were found to decrease scores on Lack of Affection, and experiences of financial hardship decreased scores on Anger and Rejection. In the multipara group, experiences of sexual abuse during childhood resulted in significantly higher Anger and Rejection scores. To our knowledge, there was no evidence of any relationship between fathers' adverse childhood experiences and bonding with their children, but there is evidence that fathers' adverse childhood experiences are associated with the perception of their child's behavior after birth and the intergenerational transmission of child abuse. Although the relationship between fathers' adverse childhood experiences and the perception of their child's behavior is mediated by partner disharmony and is related to the perception of their child's behavior in the postpartum period, fathers' adverse childhood experiences do not directly lead to the postpartum perception of their child's behavior30. Regarding parents' experiences with childhood maltreatment, it is known that children of mothers who experienced childhood maltreatment are at increased risk for socioemotional problems and maltreatment, coinciding with the mother’s antenatal depression36. Since the relationship between fathers' adverse childhood experiences and bonding with their children may be complicated due to the number and nature of fathers' adverse childhood experiences and their relationships with their partners, more detailed research is needed.
For the factors related to child maltreatment, the variable of shutting their children out of the house significantly increased Lack of Affection scores for both groups. In the primipara group, the variable of scolding their children loudly at home increased Anger and Rejection scores, and in the multipara group, the variables of not feeding their children and ignoring the children at home significantly increased Anger and Rejection scores. According to WHO37, parental characteristics that may increase the risk of child maltreatment include difficulty bonding with their newborns. These results are consistent with findings presented in previous literature.
This study has several limitations. Since our research is a cross-sectional study, it is difficult to determine the causal relationship between exposure factors and outcomes. We recruited participants through an Internet research organization, meaning that our sample is limited to Internet users only. Therefore, the sample may not be representative of all populations. In this study, we did not set a cutoff point for the bonding score to determine whether or not a father has bonding impairments, but rather, the study was designed to explore factors that influence the MIBS-J score.