Symposium
Chairs: James P. McHale and Elisabeth Fivaz-Depeursinge
Over the last decade, several independent laboratories have shown thatthe interpersonal dynamics characterizing family group interactions mustbe reckoned with by researchers studying the infant's earlysocialization environment. Family group processes are not estimatedreadily from information about parent-child relationship quality, andvariability in family group process helps explain important individualdifferences in children's social and behavioral adaptation, concurrentlyand in later years. Despite the considerable theoretical and clinicalsignificance of these recent findings, much work remains not only inreplicating and testing the boundaries of new research on multipersonrelationship systems, but also in sensitizing infancy researchers to thevalue of including a family group level of analysis in studies of earlysocioemotional development. This symposium presents new contributions66rom researchers on three different continents whose prior work has beeninstrumental in documenting the relevance of family group dynamicsduring infancy.A central question in studying family groups concerns the extent towhich group-level processes show stability over time. The symposium'sfirst paper establishes not only that higher-order family alliance typesare stable from infant age three to nine months, but also that nascenttriadic dynamics estimated in an analogue procedure prior to the baby'sarrival themselves foreshadow later alliance type. It also demonstrateslinkages between three-month alliance type and infant facility inmanaging triadic situations one month later -- a remarkable findingdemanding re-examination of prevailing theory concerning infants' earlysocial abilities.The second paper also visits families before the baby's arrival,examining how triadic capacities of couples during the pregnancy shapelater family process during infancy and, later still, products ofchildren's representations. This paper likewise verifies that earlytriadic process can be forecast prior to the baby's arrival, in thiscase by information about partners' propensity to anticipate familyrelationships without excluding themselves or their partners fromrelationship with the infant. Triadic capacity also predicts content andcohesiveness of children's relationship narratives at age 4.As studies of family triads have proliferated, questions have surfacedabout the cross-cultural generalizability of findings regardingnormative family process. The symposium's third paper examines groupdifferences in work adaptation and in triadic family process followingthe transition to parenthood as a function of culture and modernitywithin a Middle-Eastern society, suggesting that the same contextualfactors affording readier reintegration into work settings (presence ofextended family) may lead to less well-integrated mother-father-infanttriadic processes.Reviewers of this new research on triads have asked how we should bethinking about family triads once families contain more than threemembers. The symposium's final paper presents a detailed analysis ofcoparenting and family processes in a sample of families containing amother, father, and 12-month-old infant, half of which also contain apreschool-aged sibling. Both similarities and differences in theexpectable family group environment of first- and second-born infantsare illustrated. Our discussant examines the significance of familygroup dynamics for both theory and research on early infant and toddlerdevelopment.
Details of individual items:
paper
This paper examines coherencies between the emerging coparentingalliance assessed prenatally in a variant of the Lausanne Triadic Play(LTP), subsequent family alliance types assessed at 3 and 9 months inthe LTP, and infants' early handling of triangular interactions. The LTPpermits the study of father, mother and infant interacting togetherface-to-face in a triangular system constituted of (1) a'three-together' configuration (all family members actively engaged asparticipants); and (2) three separate 'two-plus-one' configurations (twomembers actively engaged as the third assumes a 'third party' role).Degree of coordination partners achieve in seeking playful affectivecontact defines a 'family alliance', ranging from functional toproblematic. We posit overlap between the coordination of family membersin constituting a family alliance, and coordination between the adultpartners in child-related tasks (central to the family's 'coparentingalliance'). Moreover, we believe it important to consider the infants'adaptation to trilogue play, a situation requiring sharing of attentionand affect with two partners. In this report, we describe: (1) stabilityof family alliances between 3 and 9 months and continuity of thesealliances with the prenatal coparenting alliance; and (2) links betweenalliance type and infant handling of triangular interactions.Twenty primiparous couples were observed in a pre-birth variant of theLTP, where they role-played their first post-birth encounter with theirbaby (represented by a life-sized doll) while moving through the fourLTP configurations. At 3 and 9 months, families negotiated the actualLTP and at 4 months, negotiated a two-plus-one with one parent posing astill face. Prenatal coordination was judged with respect to intuitiveparenting behaviors and along Coparenting and Family Rating Scale (CFRS)dimensions (McHale, Kuersten-Hogan & Lauretti, 1999) includingcooperation and family warmth. Collectively, these ratings formed acoparental coordination score. Coders blind to post-natal data achievedacceptable reliability (average kappa, .70). The coding protocol ofFivaz-Depeursinge and Corboz-Warnery (1999) was employed to score 3- and9-month coordination on three interactional levels (pelves, torsos,gaze) yielding (a) a per-configuration score; and (b) a summed score forthe full session. Coders blind to prenatal data achieved acceptablereliability (average kappa, .73). Infants' attention-sharing wasquantified as gaze shifts between parents, and affect-sharing astransfers of affect signals between parents during gaze shifts (adapted66rom Tronick's monadic phases). Inter-rater agreement by blind codersfor gaze (kappa3D.76) and affect signals (kappa3D.70) was acceptable.Findings indicated that (1) summed family coordination scores werestable from 3 to 9 months and anticipated by prenatal coordinationscores; and (2) alliance types tied into infants' handling of triangularinteractions at 4 months. These findings contribute to a new perspectivelinking developmental and family systems fields, with important clinicalimplications. The continuity data suggest the potential for conductingvery early assessments of family-level resources and vulnerabilitiesthat may affect children's early development and that complementindividual and dyadic assessments. The data on triangular interactionsuncovering a new 'triangular' infant capable of coordinating attentionand affect with two parents demand an updating of our understanding ofearly socio-affective development.
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This paper examines prospective relations between the prenatalrepresentational world of expectant parents and both the quality ofearly triadic interactions during infancy and later psychic developmentby the child. In studying prenatal representations, we draw upon aconcept called Triadic Capacity, defined as the parents' capacity toinclude the future infant in their internal and relational world as animportant third person and to anticipate their family relationshipswithout excluding themselves or their partners from the relationship tothe infant.Forty-one primiparous parents visited our laboratory once duringpregnancy, and subsequently for several follow-up assessments with thechild. During the pregnancy, we administered a psychodynamic coupleinterview addressing the experience of pregnancy, anticipation of theinfant and family life, partnership characteristics, and own childhoodexperiences. A Triadic Capacity score was formed by aggregating contentscores for partnership dynamics, flexibility and triangular level ofrepresentations, dialogue, and childhood experiences. Inter-raterreliability (averaging .72) and validity have previously been reported.Assessment of triadic interactions at four months was evaluated asparents engaged in the Lausanne Triadic Play (LTP). We maintain thatgrowth-promoting interactions are those where parents provide differenttypes of interactive offerings but do not overtax the infant'sintegrative capacities. In evaluating differences among triads, we ratedlevels of coordination, mutuality, engagement, and flexibility duringPart Three of the LTP (when all three family members are activelyengaged together). Assessment of the child's narrative representationstook place at four years; we used the MacArthur Story Stem Battery, astandardized, developmentally appropriate method where play narrativesprovide access into the child's inner world. Story stems wereadministered in standardized fashion using figures and props, with thechild asked to 'show and tell what happens next'. Content (number ofaggressive and positive themes) and coherence of play narratives wereassessed using standardized coding protocols. Children's cognitivedevelopment was measures by the Kaufman Assessment Battery (KABC).A significant positive association was found between Triadic Capacitiesassessed prenatally and quality of triadic interactions assessed at 4months. Parents' Triadic Capacities also predicted number of positivethemes (empathy/helping, affiliation, affection) and coherence of4-year-olds' narratives. Quality of interactions at four months andintellectual capacities (KABC) of children at four years did not makeadditional contributions to the variance in children's narratives.Results suggest that parental representations and partnership dynamicsaffect early family interactions and the developing representationalworld of the child. The more parents anticipated their relationship withthe infant as a threesome, imbedded in a good parental partnership, thehigher the quality of early triadic family interaction and the morepositive themes and coherence in the children's narratives. Thesefindings contribute to our understanding of ways in which adults'relational capacities, family dynamics, and child development areinterrelated.
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This paper examines early parent-child and family group interactionsamong Israeli and Arab dual-earner families, contrasting the familypatterns of these two cultural groups and tracing relationships betweenwork functioning and early family patterns. The transition toparenthood, a critical period in every family's life-cycle, posessignificant challenges for dual-earner couples -- marital decline,shifts toward traditional sex-roles, and growing dependence onenvironmental support. Dual-earner couples, particularly those assumingnuclear family arrangements, may have difficulty balancing conflictingneeds of work, infant care, and emerging family relationships.Cultural diversity combined with uniform social policy make Israel a'natural experiment' for studying dual-earner families followingchildbirth. Israeli-Jewish and Arab cultures differ in levels ofmodernization, traditional sex roles, extended family dwelling, andparent-child interaction. Yet, Israel's social policy creates a rareuniformity in the timing of maternal return to work following maternityleave; Israeli government provides a three-month paid and mandatorymaternity leave following childbirth and easier work conditions for ayear thereafter, and most mothers employed prior to childbirth return towork following the paid leave.One hundred Israeli-Jewish and 62 Arab couples and their five-month-oldfirstborn children took part in this study. All mothers worked prior tochildbirth, took maternity leave, and resumed work after three months
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Now that several studies of the family triad have established thatthe family group process contains distinctive elements not readilyestimated from data on family subsystems, questions arise about the groupdynamics of families with more than three members. How commonplace aresecond-born infants' triadic experiences with just the two parents.Are there differences in the quality of coordination withinmother-father-infant triads when the baby is a second-born? If so, aresuch differences apparent only in the family foursome or also when thetriad is together outside of siblings' presence? Are familycoparenting patterns with respect to the infant consistent across triadicand tetradic contexts? Does the amount of time spent together as a familythreesome have any bearing on quality of triadic coordination in first-and/or second-born triads? This paper examines coparenting and triadicdynamics in families of first- and second-born infants. Sixty families (all containing mother, father, and 12-month-old),and half containing a preschool sibling as well) participated. Parentsreported on division of child-care labor and time spent with children bothas a couple, and one-on-one. Families also completed free play andteaching tasks (stringing plastic beads together, stacking blocks) at auniversity lab. Two family sessions, one including the sibling and onenot, were held about one week apart for second-borns. Sessions wereevaluated using the Coparenting and Family Rating Scales (CFRS; McHale etal., 2000) and scored for interparental cooperation, competition, andverbal sparring; child- vs adult-centeredness of the session; familywarmth; and discrepancies in levels of engagement by the two parents withthe infant. Inter-judge reliability was acceptable. For familiescontaining two children, coparenting was coded separately for triadic andtetradic interactions. Not unexpectedly, amount of time that second-borns spent withtheir two parents as a threesome paled in comparison with time that theirfirst-born age-mates spent with parents as a threesome, though in a numberof two-child families babies spent several hours with their two parentseach week outside the sibling's presence. There were no consistenttrends between time spent together as a threesome and quality of triadicfamily process for either first- or second-borns; time spent as athreesome was linked with more coordinated triadic process in two-childfamilies in certain realms, but had little to no bearing on most. Atthe group level, families showing more warmth than other families duringtriadic interaction also tended to show higher warmth during tetradicinteractions. Only modest associations surfaced between division of laborand quality of triadic or tetradic family process. Work detailed elsewhereat this conference revealed that the most prominent distinctions regardingobserved family process, to the extent that such distinctions emerged,were found for within-group contrasts of the three- and four-personinteractions, and much less so for between-group comparisons of thethree-person interactions. We discuss implications of these findings forstudies of early family-infant socialization processes.