Dyadic Prenatal Coparenting Interaction Behaviors Predicting Postpartum Depressive Symptoms during the Transition to Parenthood.

Postpartum depressive symptoms constitute a common yet serious complication of pregnancy and childbirth, but research on its association with coparenting is scarce. Furthermore, although coparenting dynamics start forming prior to the child's birth, no research has explored dyadic prenatal coparenting dynamics as a predictor of postpartum depressive symptoms. The current study assessed how dyadic prenatal coparenting behaviors predicted postpartum depressive symptoms in first-time parents. We conducted a dyadic mixed-method longitudinal study of 107 expectant couples with data collected prenatally, and at 3, 6, and 24 months post-birth. The results indicated that prenatal coparenting dyadic synchrony predicted low levels of depressive symptoms among first-time fathers 3 and 6 months after the birth, and a prenatal coparenting dynamic of dyadic negative escalation predicted high levels of depressive symptoms among first-time mothers at 3 and 24 months postpartum. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Measurement invariance of the Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS) across 10 countries.

The purpose of this study was to assess the factor structure and the measurement invariance of the Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS) across 10 countries based on the seven-factor coparenting model (i.e., Coparenting Agreement, Coparenting Closeness, Exposure to Conflict, Coparenting Support, Endorsement of Partner's Parenting; Division of Labor) proposed by Feinberg (2003). The results of research on coparenting from numerous countries have documented its foundational importance for parent mental health, family relationship quality, child development, and psychopathology. Yet, a cross-country perspective is still lacking. Such a perspective can provide insight into which dimensions of coparenting are universally recognized and which are especially prone to variation. A unique multinational data set, comprised of 15 individual studies collected across 10 countries (Belgium, Brazil, China, Israel, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, USA) in nine languages was established (N = 9,292; 51.1% mothers). Measurement invariance analyses were conducted. A six-factor structure (original seven factors minus Division of Labor) of the measure was consistent across the different contexts and measurement invariance was achieved at the configural level. There was no support for metric or scalar invariance. These findings provide a basis for the CRS to be used across countries and should inspire future quantitative and qualitative research in cross-country coparenting research to understand what aspects are universal and what aspects of coparenting are linked to specific material, relational, or ideational conditions that underlie high-quality coparenting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The intersection between alexithymia, testosterone reactivity, and coparenting in fathers predicts child's prosocial behavior.

The development of prosocial skills in children is a key predictor of long-term social, cognitive, and emotional functioning. However, the role of fathers' psychological characteristics in fostering prosocial development, including during the prenatal period, and the mechanisms underlying their influence, remain relatively unexplored. This study aimed to examine whether a higher tendency of alexithymia, a difficulty to identify and verbalize emotions, in expectant fathers predicts prosocial behavior of two-year-old toddlers through the quality of coparenting and whether greater testosterone increase during a stressful parenting task moderates this indirect effect. A sample of 105 couples and their children was tracked longitudinally starting from the third trimester of pregnancy (T1), at three months (T2), and at two years postnatally (T3). Using self-report questionnaires, fathers reported on alexithymia (T1) and mothers and fathers reported on coparenting quality (T2). Additionally, fathers provided saliva samples before and after engaging in a stressful parenting task (the Inconsolable Doll Task) to measure testosterone reactivity (T1). Children's prosocial behavior was observed during an out-of-reach task (T3). A moderated mediation analysis using structural equation modeling showed that higher levels of alexithymia pre-birth predicted lower coparenting quality three months after birth, which in turn predicted lower prosocial behavior of two-year-old children, but only among fathers with mean or high testosterone increases. This study illuminates a potential mechanism by which fathers' alexithymia and testosterone reactivity forecast their toddlers' prosocial behavior.

I'm with you, baby: Using parental embodied mentalizing in a pilot study to capture change following the circle of security parenting intervention.

Supported by a large body of work demonstrating the impact of infant attachment representations on subsequent development, numerous therapeutic programs have been developed to promote secure attachment, with increasing focus on parental mentalizing. Nonetheless, empirical evidence supporting their effectiveness has yet to be fully established. The current pilot study (N = 24) was designed to evaluate whether and to what extent parents' shifts in parental mentalizing following a brief attachment-based group intervention, namely circle of security parenting (COSP; Cooper, Hoffman & Powell, 2009) can be captured using the parental embodied mentalizing instrument (PEM; Shai & Belsky, 2017). Compared to a waiting list-control group, this small-scale study examined whether community-based low-risk mothers of infants aged 5-48 months show an increase in their observed PEM capacities following the intervention. Secondary self-reported outcome variables parental stress, feeling of competence, and self-compassion. Findings show that PEM ratings improved significantly over time in the COSP group, but not in the control group. Intervention group mother-infant dyads also presented significantly longer embodied interactions communication post intervention compared to the control group. No effects of the COSP on parental stress, competence, or self-compassion were found. Despite the small sample size, these results tentatively suggest that COSP can improve embodied mentalizing abilities.

The moderating role of attachment in the association between physiological synchrony in married couples and supportive behavior in the transition to parenthood.

Despite supportive behaviors playing a central role in intimate relationships, the extent to which physiological and psychological factors are involved in the quality of the observed spousal support, remains largely unknown. From a physiological stance, cardiac synchrony has been identified as an important component involved in dyadic interpersonal interactions. This study aims to examine whether individual differences in attachment determine, at least to some extent, whether cardiac synchrony enhances or impedes the quality of the observed spousal support. Specifically, this study examines whether attachment style moderates the biobehavioral link between positive cardiac synchrony and observed spousal support. A total of 58 couples expecting their first child participated in a supportive interaction while their cardiovascular responses were recorded, and the quality of their caregiving behaviors was coded. Results indicated that couples' cardiovascular dynamics were synchronized during the supportive interaction. Furthermore, attachment moderated the association between positive cardiac synchrony and the behavioral manifestation of support, such that cardiac synchrony was negatively associated with the quality of support when offered by caregivers with higher scores of attachment anxiety. Our findings show that for those caregivers who have higher levels of anxious attachment-being synchronized with their care seeking spouses is associated with difficulties in providing effective support. We discuss these findings in the context of the emotion regulation difficulties characteristic of anxious attachment patterns. These findings suggest that future work could benefit from performing comprehensive studies that consider physiological, behavioral, and psychological constructs simultaneously.

In her shoes: Partner reflective functioning promotes family-level resilience to maternal depression.

Parental depression has significant implications for family functioning, yet much of the literature does not consider family-level dynamics in investigating individual, parenting and child outcomes. In the current study we apply a new index of couple-level support, partner reflective functioning (RF), or the romantic partner's ability to consider how the partner's mental states can guide behavior, to study familial resiliency in the face of prenatal parental depression among first-time parents. We investigate how partner RF buffers the association between prenatal parental depression and outcomes of postnatal parental depression, parenting style, and child effortful control. Maternal and paternal depression were measured in 91 primiparous couples during the sixth month of pregnancy and parental depression, partner RF, parental RF at 6 months postnatally. Outcomes of parental depression, permissive parenting, and children's effortful control were assessed 24 months postnatally. Results indicate that average and high levels of paternal partner (not parental) RF attenuate risk for maternal postnatal depression, maternal permissive parenting, and deficits in child effortful control. Implications are discussed from a family systems approach.

The multifaceted role of empathy in the transmission of postpartum depressive symptoms between parents.

Postpartum depression is a common challenge faced by mothers and fathers and can be transmitted between them. Despite the well-documented adverse effects of postpartum depressive symptoms (PPDS) on parents and children, not much is known about risk factors pertaining to the transmission of PPDS between parents. Guided by The Social Functions of Emotions theory, the current study tested the moderating effects of different forms of empathy, including perspective-taking, empathic concern, and personal distress on the transmission of PPDS between parents. Pairs of first-time Israeli parents (N = 105) completed self-report questionnaires assessing emotional (personal distress and empathic concern) and cognitive (perspective-taking) empathy during the third trimester and PPDS at three and six months postpartum. The results showed that in both parents, greater PPDS at 6 months were predicted by one's own greater personal distress. Also, lower perspective-taking and greater empathic concern of fathers predicted their own PPDS. Furthermore, the associations of PPDS at 3 months with PPDS at 6 months between parents occurred when fathers reported lower levels of personal distress and when mothers reported greater perspective-taking. Also, when mothers were lower in perspective-taking, greater PPDS at 3 months in fathers predicted lower levels of PPDS in mothers at 6 months. The study reflects the multifaceted role of empathy in the development of PPDS in new parents and highlights the potentially adverse effects of emotional and cognitive empathy on the development of PPDS in parents.

Trust me! Parental embodied mentalizing predicts infant cognitive and language development in longitudinal follow-up.

Children's cognitive and language development is a central aspect of human development and has wide and long-standing impact. The parent-infant relationship is the chief arena for the infant to learn about the world. Studies reveal associations between quality of parental care and children's cognitive and language development when the former is measured as maternal sensitivity. Nonetheless, the extent to which parental mentalizing - a parent's understanding of the thoughts, feelings, and attitudes of a child, and presumed to underlie sensitivity - contributes to children's cognitive development and functioning, has yet to be thoroughly investigated. According to the epistemic trust theory, high mentalizing parents often use ostensive cues, which signal to the infant that they are perceived and treated as unique subjective beings. By doing so, parents foster epistemic trust in their infants, allowing the infant to use the parents a reliable source of knowledge to learn from. Until recently, parental mentalizing has been limited to verbal approaches and measurement. This is a substantial limitation of the construct as we know that understanding of intentionality is both non-verbal and verbal. In this investigation we employed both verbal and non-verbal, body-based, approaches to parental mentalizing, to examine whether parental mentalizing in a clinical sample predicts children's cognitive and language development 12 months later. Findings from a longitudinal intervention study of 39 mothers and their infants revealed that parental embodied mentalizing in infancy significantly predicted language development 12 months later and marginally predicted child cognitive development. Importantly, PEM explained unique variance in the child's cognitive and linguistic capacities over and above maternal emotional availability, child interactive behavior, parental reflective functioning, depression, ethnicity, education, marital status, and number of other children. The theoretical, empirical, and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Cognition Mediates Playfulness Development in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Study of Typically Developing Children.

IMPORTANCE: Play, children's central occupation, and playfulness, its behavioral manifestation, are the foci of occupational therapy intervention. However, information about the development of playfulness behavior and the role of cognitive function is limited. OBJECTIVE: To explore the development of playfulness and its relation to cognitive functioning from infancy to toddlerhood. DESIGN: Longitudinal study with data collected at ages 6 mo, 18 mo, and 24 mo. SETTING: Laboratory (age 6 mo) and home (ages 12 and 18 mo). PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-six typically developing children drawn from a convenience sample of 109 low-risk families of middle to upper socioeconomic status. MEASURES: The Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) to assess cognitive functioning and the Test of Playfulness (ToP) to assess children's playfulness. RESULTS: ToP scores were significantly higher at age 24 mo than at age 6 mo, t(88) = -60.30, p < .001, 95% confidence interval (CI) [-1.47, -1.38]. Correlation analysis revealed that the more playful the infant was at age 6 mo, the higher their cognitive functioning was at age 18 mo and the more playful they were at age 24 mo. Toddlers with higher cognitive performance at age 18 mo demonstrated more playful behavior at age 24 mo (ß = 0.120, SE = 0.05, 95% CI [0.0377, -0.2276]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Children's playfulness is evident as early as age 6 mo and continues to develop through toddlerhood, depending on their cognitive growth. Occupational therapists play a key role in working with families with young children, promoting cognitive development to further the development of playfulness behaviors. What This Article Adds: Understanding the development of playfulness and exploring its relationship with cognitive functioning in typically developing children fills important gaps in occupational therapy knowledge and contributes to delivery of early intervention, especially when cognition or playfulness are at risk. Our findings confirmed that cognitive functioning contributes to the development of playfulness.

Parental embodied mentalizing: Associations with maternal depression, anxiety, verbal mentalizing, and maternal styles of interaction.

BACKGROUND: Maternal depression and anxiety in the perinatal period affect the quality of maternal sensitivity and mentalizing abilities. Few studies analyzed implicit mentalizing in relation to maternal distress. The aims of the study were: to examine the relation between nonverbal mentalizing - parental embodied mentalizing (PEM) - and maternal depression and anxiety, verbal mentalizing, and maternal styles of interaction; and to test PEM as a mediator of the effect of maternal distress on styles of interaction. METHOD: 81 mother-infant dyads have been recruited. At infant three months, maternal depression was assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, anxiety with State Trait Anxiety Inventory, and reflective functioning with Reflective Functioning Scale. Mother-infant interactions were coded with various approaches: PEM for nonverbal mentalizing, Mind-mindedness coding system for Mind-mindedness, and CARE-Index for maternal styles of interaction. RESULTS: Maternal depression and state anxiety were negatively correlated with PEM. PEM was also negatively correlated to maternal controlling style. Mothers with psychopathological problems (vs. mothers with no psychopathological problems) had lower PEM and sensitivity and more controlling style. Moreover, maternal depression and anxiety had direct effects on maternal sensitivity and had indirect effects mediated by PEM on controlling style. LIMITATIONS: The study evaluates interactions at three months; longitudinal studies will be able to examine maternal mentalizing and sensitivity in various stages and identify the effect on the child's attachment. CONCLUSIONS: PEM is associated to maternal anxiety and depression and mediates the effects of depression and anxiety on mother controlling style. These results emphasize the importance of early prevention programs for mothers focused also on implicit mentalizing.

The mediating role of parental embodied mentalizing in the longitudinal association between prenatal spousal support and toddler emotion recognition.

Emotion recognition is an important developmental achievement in early childhood. Grounded in theoretical concepts of family systems theory and the spillover effect, the goal of the current study was to examine whether prenatal spousal support predicts toddler emotion recognition at 24 months, and whether this association is mediated by parental embodied mentalizing (PEM) at 6 months. PEM refers to the parent's capacity to understand the infant's mental states from his or her whole-body kinesthetic expressions and adjust their own kinesthetic patterns accordingly. One hundred and five families expecting their first child were included in the study. Results indicated that maternal PEM mediated the relationship between prenatal dyadic positive and overall support and toddler emotion recognition. Paternal PEM was not found to be related to either dyadic support or to toddler emotion recognition, and it did not mediate the relationship between the two. The findings of the current study support the importance of including both parents' embodied mentalizing and a systemic approach to illuminate child development. A significant clinical implication from this study is the usefulness of prenatal couple interventions to improve mutual support and communication as it can promote parents' parental mentalizing and ultimately the child's emotion recognition capacity.

Associations of maternal sensitivity and embodied mentalizing with infant-mother attachment security at one year in depressed and non-depressed dyads.

Parental Embodied Mentalizing (PEM) captures the parent's capacity to extrapolate the child's mental states from movement and respond on a nonverbal level. Little is known about PEM's relation to other established measures of parent-child interactive behavior, such as maternal sensitivity and attachment. This is investigated in a sample of four months old infants and mothers with (n = 27) and without a diagnosis of postpartum depression (n = 44). Video-recorded infant-mother interactions were coded independently using PEM and Coding Interactive Behavior. Attachment was assessed at 13 months using the Strange Situation Procedure. Sensitivity and PEM was positively associated, but only sensitivity predicted attachment security and only the nonclinical group. This indicates that PEM and sensitivity are moderately related as well as capturing different aspects of infant-mother interactions. The study confirms previous findings of sensitivity predicting attachment in nonclinical groups. More research is required to further understand predictors of attachment in clinical samples.

Developmental trajectories of infant nighttime awakenings are associated with infant-mother and infant-father attachment security.

This longitudinal study examined developmental trajectories of infant sleep problems from 3 to 24 months old and investigated associations with infant-parent attachment security and dependency. In a sample of 107 Israeli families, number and duration of infant nighttime awakenings were measured at 3, 6, 9, and 24 months old, using mothers' and fathers' reports on the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ). Infant-parent attachment security and infant-parent dependency was assessed at 24 months old, using the observer Attachment Q-Sort procedure (AQS) with both parents. Latent growth curve models showed a non-linear decline in number and duration of infant nighttime awakenings over time. A higher number and longer duration of infant nighttime awakenings at 3 months were associated with higher infant-father attachment security at 24 months. In contrast, longer infant nighttime awakenings at 3 months were predictive of lower infant-mother attachment security at 24 months. A steeper decrease in duration of infant nighttime awakenings was associated with higher infant-father attachment security and lower infant-mother attachment security. As a potential mechanism, paternal involvement in nighttime caregiving was explored in relation to infant-father attachment security. Results of our post-hoc analyses revealed no significant associations between paternal involvement in nighttime caregiving and infant-father attachment security. Our results highlight the need to examine potential mechanisms explaining the divergent associations of infant sleep problems with infant-mother and infant-father attachment security in future research.

Studying the process of psychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy: Embodied and discursive aspects.

This paper presents findings from an intensive, mixed methods case study of one session of psychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy (PPIP) addressing early relational trauma, and aims to shed light on the multimodal interactive processes that take place in the moment-to-moment exchanges comprising the therapeutic encounter. Different research methods were used on video material from PPIP sessions, including microanalysis of adult-infant interactions, discourse analysis of talk, and coding systems developed to study parent-infant interaction. These different perspectives were brought together with the clinical narrative to illuminate the complex, dynamic processes of parent-infant-therapist interaction. More specifically, the detailed analysis of one interactive episode revealed brief behavioral manifestations of fearful and disoriented states of mind, reflecting dysregulated interaction between mother and infant, which also powerfully affected the therapist. The processes through which the therapist gradually resolves this rupture are also described in detail. Through this pilot study, we were able to show that it is possible to systematically study the process of PPIP. The study contributes to the growing psychotherapy research literature that takes into account both the verbal domain and implicit, interactional processes in therapeutic practice, and underscores the therapist's comprehensive engagement in the therapeutic process.

Este ensayo presenta resultados de un intensivo estudio de caso, con métodos mixtos, de una sesión de sicoterapia sicoanalítica de progenitor e infante (PPIP) dirigida al temprano trauma en la relación, y se propone arrojar luz sobre los procesos interactivos multimodales que se llevan a cabo en los intercambios de momento a momento que componen el encuentro terapéutico. Se usaron diferentes métodos de investigación en el material de video de las sesiones de PPIP, incluyendo el micro-análisis de las interacciones adulto-infante, análisis discursivos del habla y sistemas de codificación desarrollados para estudiar la interacción progenitor-infante. Estas diferentes perspectivas se pusieron juntas con la narrativa clínica para dar luz a los complejos, dinámicos procesos de interacción progenitor-infante-terapeuta. Más específicamente, los análisis detallados de un episodio interactivo revelaron breves manifestaciones de conducta de estados mentales de miedo y desorientación, lo cual refleja la interacción desregulada entre la madre y el bebé, lo que también afecta poderosamente al terapeuta. También se describen en detalle los procesos a través de los cuales el terapeuta gradualmente resuelve esta ruptura. Por medio de este estudio piloto, pudimos mostrar que es posible estudiar sistemáticamente el proceso de sicoterapia sicoanalítica de progenitor e infante. El estudio contribuye al creciente cuerpo investigativo sobre sicoterapia que toma en cuenta tanto el dominio verbal como los implícitos procesos interactivos en la práctica terapéutica y subraya la participación comprensiva del terapeuta en el proceso terapéutico. Palabras claves: sicoterapia progenitor-infante, comunicación multimodal, dominio implícito, investigación de procesos, trauma en la relación.

Studying the process of psychoanalytic parent-infant psychotherapy: Embodied and discursive aspects Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude de cas intensive par méthodes mixtes d'une session de psychothérapie psychanalytique parent-bébé adressant un trauma relationnel précoce. Il se donne pour but de mettre en lumière les processus interactifs multimodaux qui prennent place dans les échanges de moment-à-moment que comprend la rencontre thérapeutique. Différentes méthodes de recherches ont utilisé du matériel vidéo de séances PPIP, y compris des micro-analyses des interactions adulte-bébé, une analyse textuelle du dialogue et des systèmes de codage développés afin d'étudier l'interaction parent-bébé. Ces différentes perspectives ont été rassemblées avec la narration clinique afin d'illuminer les processus complexes et dynamiques de l'interaction parent-bébé-thérapeute. Plus particulièrement l'analyse détaillée d'un épisode interactif a révélé de brèves manifestations comportementales d'états d'esprit craintifs et désorientés, reflétant une interaction dys-régulée entre la mère et le bébé, qui ont aussi profondément affecté le thérapeute. Les processus au travers desquels le thérapeute a graduellement résolu cette rupture sont également décrits en détail. A travers cette étude pilote nous avons pu montrer qu'il est possible d'étudier systématiquement le processus de psychothérapie psychanalytique parent-bébé. L'étude contribue aux recherches en psychothérapie qui tiennent en compte à la fois le domaine verbal et implicite et les processus interactionnels dans la pratique thérapeutique, et souligne l'engagement total du thérapeute dans le processus thérapeutique. Mots clés: Psychothérapie parent-bébé, communication multimodale, domaine implicite, recherches processus, trauma relationn.

Does Postpartum Depression Affect Parental Embodied Mentalizing in Mothers With 4-Months old Infants?

Parental Embodied Mentalizing (PEM) regards parents' nonverbal capacity to understand the infant's bodily manifested mental states and adjust his or her own movements accordingly. Little is known about how mothers suffering from postpartum depression (PPD) mentalize the infant on an embodied level. The aims of the present study were to investigate whether mothers meeting criteria for a PPD diagnosis differ from non-clinical mothers in regard to their PEM capacities and whether the severity of depressive symptoms was associated with PEM in mothers meeting criteria for a PPD diagnosis compared to non-clinical mothers. 10-minute long lab-based face-to-face interactions were coded with the PEM coding scheme at 4-months postpartum in mother-infant dyads with mothers meeting criteria for a PPD diagnosis (n = 29) and non-clinical mothers (n = 51). Results showed that mothers with and without a PPD diagnosis differ in their capacity to mentalize on an embodied level, but only when controlling for scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). However, more depressive symptoms as measured with the EPDS was not in itself associated with lower PEM in either group. This finding may indicate the presence of a threshold effect, i.e. that maternal PEM may be affected only when a certain degree of severity and duration in depressive symptoms is beyond a certain threshold. The importance of the findings in regard to the assessment of depression as well as more clinical perspectives are discussed.

Predicting infant-father attachment: the role of pre- and postnatal triadic family alliance and paternal testosterone levels.

This longitudinal study examined whether prenatal family alliance and prenatal paternal testosterone levels predicted infant-mother and infant-father attachment security and whether this association was mediated by postnatal family alliance and postnatal paternal testosterone levels. In 105 couples expecting their first child, family alliance was assessed in the third trimester of pregnancy with the prenatal version of the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP). Family alliance was measured again 6 months postnatally, using the LTP. Fathers provided testosterone samples prenatally and at 6 months postnatally. Infant-parent attachment was assessed with the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS) at 24 months. Results indicated an increase in paternal testosterone levels from the pre- to the postnatal period. A more positive prenatal family alliance predicted higher infant-father attachment security at 24 months, but not infant-mother attachment security. The association between prenatal family alliance and attachment security was not mediated by postnatal family alliance or postnatal paternal testosterone levels. This study highlights the significance of prenatal family relations, and the need to consider in research and practice the divergent effects of prenatal family alliance patterns on the emerging infant-mother and infant-father attachment relationships. The underlying hormonal mechanisms during the transition to fatherhood are important targets for future research.

Interpersonal physiological regulation during couple support interactions: Examining the role of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and emotional support.

In times of need, people seek comfort and support from close others. Support provision is an integral component of attachment relationships, one that is linked with physical and psychological well-being. Successful support provision is believed to be grounded in transactions of sensitive, caring behavior between caregivers and support seekers and to serve a profound regulatory function. However, physiological processes underlying support transactions have not been previously studied. We assessed autonomic vagal regulation and coded spontaneous emotional support behaviors in N = 100 heterosexual couples involved in a support interaction. We focused on cardiac vagal activation, operationalized as the increase in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) from baseline to interaction, as an indicator of regulatory efforts. Analyses revealed a negative association between caregivers' and support seekers' regulatory efforts, which was mediated by emotional support behaviors. We found that caregivers with greater increases in RSA from baseline to interaction provided more emotional support to their partners. Such emotional support was associated with smaller increases in support seekers' RSA and with support seekers' perceptions of their partners as being more sensitive to their needs. Finally, these links were only significant among dyads in which caregivers reported lower levels of attachment anxiety. We interpret these results in the framework of interpersonal regulatory processes, suggesting that provision of support may impose regulatory demands on the side of the caregivers, which in turn could result in attenuated regulatory efforts and positive partner perceptions for the support seekers.

Mother-child adrenocortical synchrony: Roles of maternal overcontrol and child developmental phase.

An increasing amount of empirical attention is focused on adrenocortical synchrony as an index of biobehavioral co-regulation between parent and child in the context of early child development. Working with an ethnically diverse community sample of children (N = 99, 50.5% male, ages 9-12), we collected saliva samples from mother-child dyads prior to and after a laboratory-based performance challenge task, and tested whether maternal overcontrol and child age moderated dyadic synchrony in cortisol. Results revealed that cortisol levels between mothers and children were significantly positively correlated at pretask for dyads with mean age and older children only, at 25-min post-task for all dyads, and at 45-min post-task for all dyads. Higher overcontrol/older child dyads exhibited a unique pattern of cortisol synchrony wherein at pretask, mother-child levels had the strongest positive correlation, whereas at 25 and 45 min, mother-child cortisol levels were significantly inversely correlated. These findings contribute to theory and research on parent-child relationships by examining parenting behavior, developmental stage, and adrenocortical synchrony in tandem.

The Inconsolable Doll Task: Prenatal coparenting behavioral dynamics under stress predicting child cognitive development at 18 months.

Studies have demonstrated that coparenting can be assessed prenatally through playful observational conditions, including simulated baby enactments. Regrettably, there is a lack of empirical research examining how prenatal coparenting under the emotional stress elicited by the distress of a simulated infant predicts children's cognitive development. The current longitudinal study introduces a novel procedure-the Inconsolable Doll Task-to assess prenatal coparenting behavioral dynamics under the stress of a non-responsive doll simulator, and examines the extent to which prenatal interaction patterns predict the child's cognitive development at 18 months. The sample consists of 105 community-based, co-living, expectant fathers and mothers. Data were collected prenatally, at three, six, and 18 months in home and lab visits. Results indicate that the prenatal coparenting dynamic of negative escalation explains a unique variance in children's cognitive development at 18 months. This effect is evident even when accounting for both prenatal and postnatal assessments of low-stress coparenting behavioral patterns or self-reported coparenting perceptions, and when controlling for parental education. These findings are discussed in terms of their methodical, empirical, and clinical implications.

The importance of parental verbal and embodied mentalizing in shaping parental experiences of stress and coparenting.

Parental mentalizing-recognizing that children are separate psychological entities, who have their own thoughts, wishes, and intentions that motivate their behaviors-is traditionally considered a verbal, linguistic capacity. This paper aimed to examine the relation between parental verbal mentalizing (parental reflective function; PRF) and its nonverbal form-parental embodied mentalizing (PEM)-and how both constructs contribute to parents' subjective experience of parenting, namely parental stress and coparental alliance. 68 mothers and their three-months-old babies were observed to assess PEM, interviewed to code PRF, and completed self-reports of coparental alliance and parental stress. PEM was found to be positively correlated with PRF. Mediation analyses revealed that higher PEM, but not PRF, was associated with lower parental stress, mediated by positive reports of coparental alliance. The findings support adopting a multifaceted approach when studying parental mentalizing, both in terms of assessing parental mentalizing beyond its verbal expressions to include also embodied aspects, as well as investigating its impact beyond infant development to include the familial context within it operates. Conceptual, empirical and clinical implications are discussed.