From Me to Us:

The Construction of Family AllianceGaldiolo, S. & Roskam, I. – Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Methodology

Sample: 62 non-referred triadic families

Measures:

Pregnancy: NEO-60 (Aluja et al., 2005) & ECR-R (Brennan et al., 1998)

12 months: CPS (Feinberg, Brown, & Kan, 2012) & IBQ (Gartstein & Rothbart, 2013)

18 months: LTP (Fivaz-Depeursinge & Corboz-Warnery, 1999)

Analytical Strategy: SEM, Bootstrap techniques, & Multigroup analyses

Sarah.galdiolo@uclouvain.be

Pregnancy 12 months 18 months

Parents’ Characteristics:• Personality Traits• Attachment Orientations

Coparenting Family Alliance

Child’s TemperamentMethods:

Galdiolo, S. & Roskam, I. (2016). From me to us: The construction of Family Alliance. Infant Mental Health Journal, 37(1), 29 – 44.

Final Parsimonious ModelParents’

Conscientiousness

Mother’s Avoidant

Attachment

Father’s Anxious

Attachment

Coparenting Family Alliance

.20*

-.41**

-.46***

.25*

(χ2(3) = 3.79, n.s.; χ2/df = 1.26, CFI = 0.99, RMSEA = .05, AIC=37.79)

Discussion

Parents’ Characteristics & FA

• Positive indirect effect of Conscientiousness: Consistency & structure for the family environment

• Negative indirect effect of mother’s Avoidant Attachment: Difficultyin providing supportive care to the child and the partner

• Negative indirect effect of father’s Anxious Attachment: Feeling of exclusion during the early months portpartum

Coparenting & FA

• Mechanism explaining the associations between parents’ characteristics & FA

• Prevention / intervention programs: Coparenting as a malleable construct (parental behaviors & cognitions)

Child’s Temperament & FA: Too young temperament for competing with more stable and enduring parents’ variables