This book examines family interactions and relationships during the transition to parenthood. It offers a unique integration of different lines of research on prenatal family dynamics contributed by leading family researchers in North America and Europe who use observational approaches to study emergent family processes. The book explores prenatal dynamics in diverse families, including adolescent couples, same-sex couples, couples experiencing infertility, and couples expecting their second child. The introduction, anchored in family systems and structural theories, provides an overview of challenges couples commonly experience during the transition to parenthood and details prenatal family processes that predict postpartum adjustment in families. This sets the stage for subsequent chapters by emphasizing unparalleled windows into prenatal family dynamics provided by direct observation. Initial chapters focus on predictors of prenatal interactions and partners representations of parenthood. Subsequent chapters describe original research on prebirth couple interactions and the coparenting relationship emerging during pregnancy. The volume includes several studies that rely on innovative research designs using observations of simulated couple encounters with their newborn, represented by a life-sized infant doll. The book concludes with a review of recent prenatal intervention programs designed to improve interpersonal and coparenting relationships of married and unmarried couples. The volume offers recommendations for future research on prenatal family dynamics, including suggestions for methodological advances, exploration of prenatal risk factors, expansion of conceptual models to incorporate culturally-meaningful coparents besides mothers and fathers, and further focus on prenatal intervention programs. This book is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians and professionals, and graduate students in the fields of infant mental health/early child development, family studies, pediatrics, developmental psychology, public health, social work, and early childhood education.

Regina Kuersten-Hogan, Ph.D., is a licensed Child Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor in the Clinical Counseling Psychology Program at Assumption College and an Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA. Dr. Kuersten-Hogans research focuses on coparenting dynamics and family emotion expression during the transition to parenthood in nonclinical and high-risk families. She regularly presents her research at national as well as international conferences and has authored articles and book chapters on coparenting and family dynamics. Dr. Kuersten-Hogan also provides assessments and therapy with children and families in private practice and teaches courses in Developmental Psychology, Family Psychology, Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions, and Family Therapy.

James P. McHale, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology, Director of the USF St. Ptersburg Family Study Center and Executive Director of the USFSPInfant-Family Center. He was Founding Chair of USF St. Petersburgs Department of Psychology, and past Director of Clinical Training at Clark University in Worcester, MA. He has published more than 100 articles, chapters, and books about coparenting in diverse family systems, and his research studies of coparenting and child development have been supported since 1996 by the National Institutes of Health. Among his seminal works are the books Coparenting: A Conceptual and Clinical Examination of Family Systems" (American Psychological Association, with Kristen Lindahl), andCharting the Bumpy Road of Coparenthood: Understanding the Challenges of Family Life (Zero to Three). Dr. McHale also developed the intervention, Focused Coparenting Consultation (FCC), to support coparenting in married, unmarried, divorced, and multigenerational families.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Observations of Family Dynamics During the Transition to Parenthood: The Emergence of the Family Triad.- Chapter 2. Harbingers of Prenatal Coparenting and Family Dynamics During Pregnancy.- Chapter 3. Maternal and Paternal Representations and Interactions During Pregnancy.- Chapter 4. Prenatal Marital Interaction: Relations with Later Parent-Child Interactions, Marital and Coparenting quality, Whole Family Dynamics, and Child Outcomes.- Chapter 5. Interpersonal Dynamics of Young Parenthood and Development of Secure Coparenting Relationships.- Chapter 6. Prenatal Coparenting Interactions: Two Contrasting Cases of Family Communication.- Chapter 7. Marital and Coparenting Harmony During Pregnancy: Forecasting Postpartum Family Dynamics Observed in First-Time Parents.- Chapter 8. Importance of Behavioral Coparenting Under High Arousal from Pregnancy to Early Childhood: Implications for Childrens Cognitive Development and Attachment Security.- Chapter 9. From Pregnancy to Toddlerhood: Does Gender Matter for the Development of Family Relationships?.- Chapter 10. Attachment Matching and Coparental Intuitive Interactions in Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Couples Planning Parenthood.- Chapter 11. From Infertility to Parenthood: The Influence of Partners Stress and Romantic Relationship on the Development of Family Dynamics.- Chapter 12. Coparenting the First Child While Expecting the Second.- Chapter 13. A Prenatal Intervention to Support Coparenting in Unmarried African American Family Systems.- Chapter 14. Continuity and Discontinuity from Early Caregiving Experiences to Adult Intimate and Parent-Child Relationships:  Implications for Family-Centered Prevention and Early Intervention.- Chapter 15. Understanding Teen Parents in a Modern Context: Prenatal Hopes and Postnatal Realities.- Chapter 16. Future Directions in Research and Practice.