| Abstract: | Reviews recent research on the father–infant relationship. Those studies documenting changes in parent and infant behavior when the mother–infant dyad is transformed into the mother–father–infant triad are especially important to the study of early human experience, since they highlight the influence of the marital relationship on the parent–infant relationship. These investigations of "2nd-order effects" document the fact that inclusion of the father in the study of infancy creates a family system composed of marital and parent–child relations. The need for "wedding" the disciplines of family sociology and developmental psychology in their respective concerns for marital and parent–infant relationships is emphasized, and a transactional framework for examining early experience in the family system is proposed. Evidence from family sociology and developmental psychology is reviewed to illuminate influences within the family system during infancy and to stimulate interdisciplinary investigation. (3? ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
