Thinking three, revisited: infants, coparents, gender roles, and cultural contexts

Abstract

Tracing its beginnings to the mid‐1990s, coparenting theory and research, guided greatly by Minuchin's structural family theory, have deepened socialisation perspectives in the field of developmental psychology. Coparenting theory has perhaps had its largest impact in the field of infant‐family mental health, where empirical investigations of coparenting and family‐level dynamics have dovetailed with studies of family alliances and triangles and inspired creative interventions to support families of infants and toddlers. In this article, the authors retrace some of the early accounts of coparenting and triangular interactions during infancy, highlighting symmetries with analogue conceptualisations discovered in the field of family therapy. Emphasising key concepts and lessons divined from the infant‐family mental health literature holding value for the practice of family therapy, the article also recognises the dominant Euro‐Western bias that has shaped much of the extant literature to date. A closing section addresses two important areas calling for more concerted attention by infant‐family mental health experts and family therapists alike – under‐appreciated and misunderstood elements of men's psychology connected to their core self‐definition, and cultural distinctions in normal family processes. In both cases, if misread or misunderstood by the helping professional, the recipients of therapeutic services may experience failures of empathy.

How Coparenting Is Linked to Depression among Chinese Young Girls and Boys: Evidence from a Network Analysis

“…They exhibit a greater tendency to adhere to parental opinions. As a result, in the upbringing of girls, parents place more emphasis on attending to their emotional needs and adopt a more consistent and cooperative approach to coparenting [30,42].…”

“…In family life, the quality of coparenting serves as a critical cornerstone influencing the socialization process of young adolescents [27,41,42]. Existing research has demonstrated that parental coordination, open communication and conflict resolution positively contribute to adolescents internalizing behavioral guidelines both at home and in school [43].…”

Inspiring respect for fathers as coparents through a trauma-informed, infant-family mental health transformation of community-based services: process and early implementation with a multi-agency community collaborative

“…What was innovative was providing not just a conceptual blueprint for understanding but also “in-the-trenches” role plays and conversations reviewing how providers can properly – and also ineptly – approach fathers. Understanding the psychology of men and fathers is essential when the aim is to include them substantively in care plans ( McHale and Jenkins, 2023 ). During live trainings, multi-agency staff were asked to - and proved capable of - reflecting upon and articulating why they’d left fathers out of current cases they were seeing, when fathers actually could have been involved.…”

“…Indeed, even the very act of guiding agencies and agency personnel to systematically screen for trauma can heighten bias for singling out problems and their aftereffects. Further, most men do not respond well to inquiries about susceptibility to trauma and suggestions of vulnerability ( McHale and Jenkins, 2023 ). And, assumption of a pathology lens can be problematic and even disruptive if agencies do not possess the proper resources to afford responsive follow-up once historical or ongoing trauma has been uncovered.…”

Family therapy and infant mental health: exploring the potential space

“…We seek to introduce or remind the family therapist of the power of observing the infant and of enabling the family to observe what the baby could say about the family's secure base (see Bunston & Jones, 2023; Opie, Booth, et al., 2023). Concurrently, we aspire to remind the infant mental health field of the value of the systemic frame, beyond the dyad (see McHale & Jenkins, 2023). We seek to reinforce the mutual obligations of these fields to the infant, their carers, and to their family in its context (see Arabena, 2023; Opie, McHale, et al., 2023).…”