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.