COPARENTING AND FAMILY LEVEL PROCESSES

自20世纪90年代中期以来，发展研究已经开始研究家庭情感生活的一个重要方面，这个方面以前在儿童和家庭的研究中被忽视了——发生在整个家庭群体层面的关系动态。这项工作的一个特别重点是了解家庭共同抚养的动态。这项工作还处于起步阶段，许多关于共同养育和家庭层面动态的重要问题——特别是在家庭生活的早期——需要系统的研究。这个项目解决了四个这样的问题：(1)父母对自己共同养育活动的自我报告（促进家庭完整性的行为，对孩子贬低伴侣的冲突）是否与相关家庭过程的观察测量相关联？(2)随着时间的推移，家庭层面的动态变化与连续性有什么关系？(3)幼儿自我调节、内化和外化行为是否与共同养育前后的动态相关，并考虑到幼儿的气质和二元关系变量的影响。(4)婚姻困扰与幼儿适应的关系是否受共同抚养过程的中介作用？100对夫妇将在孩子12个月和30个月时与他们一起参加以实验室为基础的家庭互动课程，并就他们的共同抚养关系接受采访。在每个时间段，独立的实验室评估将检查(a)每个亲子关系；（二）婚姻关系；(c)在整个家庭群体一级发生的相互作用；(d)儿童气质。幼儿自我调节、内化和外化行为将在30个月时进行评估。回归和方差分析程序将检查从婴儿期到幼儿期共同养育和家庭层面的动态的连续性和变化。回归分析将检验除性情和二元关系属性外，共同父母冲突、家庭凝聚力和参与差异是否对幼儿适应的预测有独特的贡献。使用偏最小二乘检验程序的潜变量路径分析将检验直接（婚姻-孩子）与间接（婚姻-家庭-孩子）的联系。

Since the mid-1990s, developmental research has begun examining an important dimension of the family's emotional life previously neglected in studies of children and families-relational dynamics that take place at the level of the whole family group. A particular focus in this work has been on understanding the family's co-parenting dynamics. This work is in its infancy, and a number of important questions concerning co- parenting and family-level dynamics-particularly during the early years of family life-require systematic study. This project addresses four such questions: (1) Can parents' self-reports of their own co-parenting activities (behavior promoting family integrity, conflict disparaging the partner to the child) be tied to observational measures of related family processes? (2) What can be said about continuity versus change in family-level dynamics over time? (3) Are toddler self-regulation, internalizing and externalizing behavior linked to co-parenting dynamics before, and after, taking into account the child's temperament and the influence of dyadic relationship variables. (4) Is the association between marital distress and toddler adjustment mediated by co-parenting processes? 100 couples will participate in laboratory-based family interaction sessions with their child at 12 and 30 months, and be interviewed about their co-parenting relationship. At each time period, independent laboratory assessments will examine (a) each parent-child relationship; (b) the marital relationship; (c) interactions taking place at the level of the whole family group; and (d) child temperament. Toddler self- regulation, internalizing and externalizing behavior will be assessed at 30 months. Regression and MANOVA procedures will examine continuity and change in co-parenting and family-level dynamics form infancy to toddlerhood. Regression analyses will examine whether co-parental conflict, family cohesion, and discrepancies in engagement contribute uniquely to the prediction of toddler adaptation, beyond contributions of temperament and dyadic relationship properties. Latent variable path analysis with partial least squares examination procedures will examine direct (marriage-to-child) versus indirect (marriage-family-child) links.