Abstract
In this chapter we examine the nature of the interrelationship between the prenatal marital and coparental relationships in a sample of pregnant couples from the USA. Specifically, we explore whether each subsystem of the family makes unique contributions to forecasting respective postpartum family dynamics. In our Transition to Parenthood Study, we observed couples’ prenatal marital harmony and conflict during a discussion task and their prenatal coparenting harmony and antagonism during the Prenatal Lausanne Trilogue Play paradigm. Prenatal measures of marital and coparenting dynamics were repeated at 3 months postpartum. In addition, we observed coparenting during mealtime interactions at 12 months. Longitudinal findings suggest that marital and coparental relationships may already be becoming distinctive subsystems during pregnancy, as marital and coparenting dynamics observed during pregnancy each predict unique aspects of respective postpartum family dynamics. In addition, affective spillover may already be occurring between these two prenatal subsystems. We propose a new model depicting the interrelationship between the marital/couple and coparenting relationships across the transition to parenthood as a template for future observations of these prenatal subsystems.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the families who participated in our Transition to Parenthood Study for volunteering their time and sharing their experiences with us. We are also thankful for the work contributed by our coders, Kristen Chirichetti, Courtney Carpenter, Elizabeth Masterman, Jennifer Burgoyne, Debora Franco, and Yeonjoo Son. Finally, we wish to express a special thanks to our collaborators for the 12-month follow-up study phase, Drs. Maria Kalpidou, Paula Fitzpatrick, Amy Cirillo, and Fang Zhang.
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Kuersten-Hogan, R., Jarquin, S., Charpentier, L. (2021). The Interrelationship Between the Prenatal Marital and Coparenting Subsystems: Forecasting Postpartum Family Dynamics in First-Time Parents. In: Kuersten-Hogan, R., McHale, J.P. (eds) Prenatal Family Dynamics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51988-9_11
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