Prenatal Family Dynamics: Couple and Coparenting Relationships During and Postpregnancy

This book explores family interactions and relationships during the transition to parenthood, integrating research from leading experts in North America and Europe. It focuses on prenatal dynamics in diverse families, including adolescent couples, same-sex couples, and those experiencing infertility. The introduction provides an overview of challenges and prenatal family processes that predict postpartum adjustment. Chapters cover predictors of prenatal interactions, partners' representations of parenthood, prebirth couple interactions, and prenatal intervention programs. The volume offers recommendations for future research on prenatal family dynamics and intervention programs.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 393 pages
Publication date: 02 February 2022
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

This comprehensive book delves into the intricate dynamics of family interactions and relationships during the transformative journey of parenthood. Through a unique integration of diverse lines of research on prenatal family dynamics, contributed by esteemed family researchers from North America and Europe, the book offers a profound exploration of emergent family processes. It sheds light on prenatal dynamics within diverse families, encompassing adolescent couples, same-sex couples, couples facing infertility, and those expecting their second child.

The introduction, rooted in family systems and structural theories, provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges couples commonly encounter during this pivotal transition. It also delves into prenatal family processes that predict postpartum adjustment within families. This foundational chapter sets the stage for the subsequent chapters, emphasizing the unparalleled insights into prenatal family dynamics offered through direct observation.

The initial chapters focus on identifying predictors of prenatal interactions and the representations of parenthood held by partners. These chapters delve into the complex interplay of factors that shape the dynamics within couples during pregnancy. Subsequent chapters present original research on prebirth couple interactions and the development of the coparenting relationship during this critical period. The volume includes several studies that employ innovative research designs, utilizing observations of simulated couple encounters with their newborn, represented by a life-sized infant doll.

The book concludes with a comprehensive review of recent prenatal intervention programs aimed at enhancing interpersonal and coparenting relationships among married and unmarried couples. It offers valuable recommendations for future research in prenatal family dynamics, encompassing methodological advancements, exploration of prenatal risk factors, expansion of conceptual models to incorporate culturally-meaningful coparents beyond mothers and fathers, and further refinement of our understanding of this critical phase of family life.

Weight: 640g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030519902
Edition number: 1st ed. 2021