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Prebirth marital interactions and postbirth marital development
Author(s) -
Heinicke Christoph M.,
Guthrie Donald
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0355(199622)17:2<140::aid-imhj4>3.0.co;2-u
Subject(s) - autonomy , psychology , affect (linguistics) , marital relationship , adaptation (eye) , developmental psychology , communication , neuroscience , political science , law
A considerable body of research supports the general statement that “couples who before the birth of their first child are characterized by positive mutuality, partner autonomy, and the ability to confront problems and regulate negative affect are responsive to the needs of their infants, promote their autonomy and have more secure and autonomous children, as seen throughout the first 4 years of life” (Heinicke, 1995). The implications for infant mental health are profound, but more needs to be known about what specific prebirth marital qualities interact with and anticipate postbirth marital and child functioning. This is a study of the association between the nature of the couple's prebirth interaction and their marital adaptation during the first 2 years of the child's life. Linking pre‐ and postbirth marital functioning, the frequency of negative affect and off‐task scores, as well as the inability to resolve their issues in the prebirth marital interaction, anticipated a declining or consistently low postbirth marital adaptation.