1-180 - New developments in the study of infant-coparent triangular interaction in the Lausanne Trilogue Play

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Over the past 10 years the Lausanne Trilogue Play paradigm has emerged as a pivotal assessment paradigm for understanding coparenting and triangular dynamics during early infancy. Initially founded to assess alliances in two-parent married families, the paradigm has been used creatively in recent years to assess dynamics in diverse family systems. This symposium features work from researchers in four different countries who used the LTP at 3 months post-partum to address issues of both clinical and theoretical import. The symposium’s first paper, from clinicians in Canada and Switzerland, examines the role played by infants in contributing to consolidation of clinically distinct coparenting patterns during LTP interactions. Even at 3 months post-partum, babies’ behaviors are part of an integrated three-person dynamic with important implications for infant and family development. The second paper is the first to use the LTP to study multigenerational family systems in Turkey, where normatively grandparents are key coparenting figures at 3-months-post-partum. Patterns of coparenting cooperation and competition during mother-father-baby and mother-grandmother-baby LTP interactions are documented, with between-family differences varying as a function of maternal educational attainment. The third study of early coparenting during LTP interactions by unmarried lower socioeconomic African American parents in the United States examines sequencing of parental responses following 3-month-olds’ interactive bids. It documents responsiveness of both residential and non-residential fathers to the infant’s bids and follow-on behaviors of mothers following father’s response to the baby. Discussion will highlight how the LTP stands to illuminate significant new paths not-yet explored in the coparenting field.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Diane Phillip, University of Toronto

Discussant

• James P McHale, University South Florida St. Petersburg

Individual Presentations

• The baby’s contribution to regulation of functional and problematic coparenting - Presenting Author: Diane Phillip, University of Toronto; Hervé Tissot, University of Geneva; Elisabeh Fivaz-Depeursinge, Lausanne University, Switzerland

• Observed Triadic Interactions in Turkey at 3 Month Postpartum - Presenting Author: SELIN SALMAN ENGIN, Bilkent University; James P McHale, University South Florida St. Petersburg; Nebi Sumer, M.I.N.D. Institute, UCD; Ece Sagel, Developmental Psychology

• (Absence of) Maternal Gatekeeping in Early Triangular Interactions of African American Fragile Families - Presenting Author: Erica Coates, University of South Florida Tampa; James P McHale, University South Florida St. Petersburg