Prenatal Attachment Inventory: expanding the reliability and validity evidence using a sample of Italian women.

As the Fantasy subscale showed poor internal consistency, we advise against its use as an independent measure. However, when used as a global score, the PAI is a reliable and valid measure of prenatal attachment in Italian women. Thus, it can be used for research purposes. The use of the PAI could also be very helpful in clinical settings, in order to identify expectant mothers who have difficulty in establishing an affective bond with their unborn infants. To this end, further research should study the characteristics of the PAI on high-risk groups and clinical samples in order to obtain clinical cut-offs.