What Do I Bring to the Team? Self‐Capacities Mediate the Association Between Childhood Interpersonal Trauma and Parenting Alliance in Couples

Parents exposed to childhood interpersonal trauma are at risk of reporting difficulties following the birth of a child. Although parenting alliance is crucial for both parental and infant well-being, it is often overlooked for trauma survivors in the postpartum period. More research is needed, focusing on both co-parents and using a dyadic and longitudinal approach to understand the underlying mechanisms. Self-capacities offer insights into trauma's effects at different life stages and might play a role in survivors' parenting alliance. Using a dyadic and longitudinal design, this study examined the possible mediating role of self-capacities in the association between cumulative childhood interpersonal trauma (CCIT) and parenting alliance. A randomly selected sample of 923 couples who recently had a child, completed questionnaires on CCIT, self-capacities disturbances (i.e., affect dysregulation, identity disturbance and interpersonal conflicts), and parenting alliance at two time-points (T1, T2). Path analyses revealed that, when controlling for parenting alliance at T1, CCIT was associated with lower parenting alliance at T2 for both mothers and fathers, through interpersonal conflicts and affect dysregulation at T1. Precisely, a higher disposition to interpersonal conflicts mediated the link between one parent's CCIT and their own parenting alliance, while higher affect dysregulation mediated the link between one parent's CCIT and their co-parent's parenting alliance. Findings suggest that CCIT survivors may struggle with parenting alliance through affect dysregulation and interpersonal conflicts during early postpartum, highlighting self-capacities as both prevention and intervention targets to foster parenting alliance

Affect (linguistics) · Alliance · Association (psychology) · Child abuse · Interpersonal communication · Interpersonal relationship · Longitudinal study · Poison control · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Child Abuse and Trauma · Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units

• Coparenting

  James P Mchale, Kristin M Lindahl•Coparenting•2011

  Incluir item

• Childhood trauma and adult mental disorder

  Open Access•Michael T Mckay, Mary Cannon et al.•Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica•2021

  Incluir item

• Lifetime assessment of poly-victimization in a national sample of children and youth

  Open Access•David Finkelhor, Richard K Ormrod et al.•Child Abuse & Neglect•2009

  Incluir item

• Intergenerational effects of childhood maltreatment

  Open Access•Catie A Greene, Carolyn A Greene et al.•Clinical Psychology Review•2020

  Incluir item

• Child abuse and mental disorders in Canada

  Open Access•Tracie O Afifi, Harriet L Macmillan et al.•Canadian Medical Association…•2014

  Incluir item

• Assessing Mediation in Dyadic Data Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

  Thomas Ledermann, Siegfried Macho et al.•Structural Equation Modeling: A…•2011

  Incluir item

• Supportive Coparenting, Parenting Stress, Harsh Parenting, and Child Behavior Problems in Nonmarital Families

  Open Access•Jeong‐kyun Choi, Emily Becher et al.•Family Process•2019

  Incluir item

• Associations between low-income nonresident fathers’ parenting identity and involvement with children

  Jay Fagan•Psychology of Men & Masculinity•2020

  Incluir item

• Coparenting and parenting stress of middle-class mothers during the first year

  Su Kyoung Kang, Hye-Jeong Choi et al.•Journal of Family Studies•2020

  Incluir item

• Contributions of parenting quality and coparenting relationship quality to the development of child executive functioning

  Open Access•Lauren E Altenburger, Sarah J Schoppe‐sullivan•Early Childhood Research Quarterly•2021

  Incluir item

• The Internal Structure and Ecological Context of Coparenting

  Mark E Feinberg•Parenting•2003

  Incluir item

• Adolescent Mothers' Perceptions of the Coparenting Relationship With Their Child's Father

  Open Access•Arielle H Sheftall, Sarah J Schoppe‐sullivan et al.•Journal of Family Issues•2010

  Incluir item