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

Bibliographic Data

ID17190870
AuthorsCamille Andrée Rassart (0000-0002-5387-3708, Department of Psychology Université du Québec à Montréal Montreal Québec Canada, corresponding author), Alison Paradis (0000-0001-9001-0058, Department of Psychology Université du Québec à Montréal Montreal Québec Canada), Martine Hébert (0000-0002-4531-5124, Department of Sexology Université du Québec à Montréal Montreal Québec Canada), Natacha Godbout (0000-0002-2997-5237, Department of Sexology Université du Québec à Montréal Montreal Québec Canada)
Year2026
Volume65
Issue1
Pagese70124-e70124
Publication date2026-02-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFamily Process (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0014-7370 • E-ISSN: 1545-5300
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/famp.70124
PMID41668305
OpenAlexW7128466055
LanguageEN
References cited54

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