From the intuitive behaviors to the triadic interactions at 9th month after delivery.

Introduction The study is focused on the triadic competences: they are early interactive modalities that characterize the child’s affective-relational development. They emerge and can be observed during pregnancy, as adult intuitive behaviors (Papousek & Papousek, 1987), and subsequently to the delivery, in the interactions with the baby. Method The research aims to investigate: a) the role (predictive) of parental intuitive behaviors in pregnancy on the subsequent mother-father-child interaction; b) the correlates of intuitive behaviors, as couple adjustment and child development, and their impact on patterns of stability and change of early triadic interactions in the first year of the child. 90 non-referred primiparous families were recruited at the child-birth courses. The data are collected with the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP, Fivaz-Depeursinge & Corboz- Warnery, 1999) and with the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS, Spanier, 1986) at 7th month of pregnancy and at 4th and 9th month after child’s birth. Results Globally, the triadic interactions in pregnancy are predictive of family interactions at 9th month of the child (R2=.07; F(1,69)=5.06, p=.028) and the quality of parental intuitive behavior play a main role in this influence. The couple adjustment is not associated to the intuitive behaviors in pregnancy and it is statistically not related to the quality of the triadic interactions after delivery. Multilevel analysis highlight a linear relation between the time and the quality of family interactions (t=4.78; p<.001; B= 2.36), that improves in each observational phase and are determined by the child’s competences at this developmental stage. Conclusions The adult interactive skills in pregnancy, particularly the parental intuitive behaviors, represent an interactive matrix for the construction of family relations during the child’s first year of life and may be considered as a central factor in the infant’s development of early triadic interactive abilities.