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Continuity in Early Caregiving Experiences and the Transition to Parenthood: Role of Emotion Regulation and Coregulation as Family-Level Processes

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Prenatal Family Dynamics

Abstract

A significant body of research has explored the transition to parenthood as a critical period of adult development that requires reorganization of relationships in which romantic partners also become coparents and dyadic interactions are transformed into family interactions. Much of this research has been aimed at understanding how both historical influences and current relationships shape this major life transition. This chapter focuses on emotion regulation and coregulation as a key set of processes that may link past and present, with an examination of how early attachment relationships, adult intimate relationships, and coparenting relationships may converge during the prenatal period to lay the foundation for how emotions will be navigated in the newly constituted family postnatally. Emotion regulation and coregulation will be explored as family level phenomena that unfold in the context of interactions within and across multiple family subsystems. Finally, we consider how viewing emotion regulation and coregulation at the family level can enhance current prevention and intervention efforts to support families through the transition to parenthood.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Regina Brodell in the preparation of this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Population Behavioral Health, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Blair Paley & Nastassia J. Hajal

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  1. Blair Paley
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  2. Nastassia J. Hajal
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Correspondence to Blair Paley .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Counseling Psychology, Department Assumption University, Worcester, MA, USA

    Regina Kuersten-Hogan

  2. Family Study Center, Department of Psychology, University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    James P. McHale

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Paley, B., Hajal, N.J. (2021). Continuity in Early Caregiving Experiences and the Transition to Parenthood: Role of Emotion Regulation and Coregulation as Family-Level Processes. In: Kuersten-Hogan, R., McHale, J.P. (eds) Prenatal Family Dynamics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51988-9_15

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