Fathers’ Contribution to Mother-Infant Biosocial Health

Fathers play a critical role in infant development. Their specific role in supporting the mother-infant relationship, an important factor for infant outcomes, is significantly under researched. Adrenocortical attunement between mother and infant is a key indicator of healthy infant development. A major limitation of past research is the failure to capture the influence of other family members on this developmental psychobiological cascade. The long-term goal is to understand the early life experiences for infants that promote resilience. The central objective is to identify patterns of father involvement associated with positive and negative outcomes for mother-infant dyads during the first 6 months of life. Based on strong preliminary data showing that father involvement moderates mother-infant adrenocortical attunement, the research will test the central hypothesis that low levels of father involvement will result in greater mother-infant asynchrony when mothers are low in sensitivity. With a more complete understanding of fathers' contributions to mother-infant attunement, findings may inform intervention programs focusing on optimizing support for the mother-infant dyad. We will test the hypothesis with the following specific aims: 1) Determine if father social involvement moderates the relationship between maternal sensitivity and adrenocortical attunement in the first six months of life; and 2) Determine if father involvement is directly associated with mother-infant attunement The expected outcome is identification of patterns of father involvement associated with maternal sensitivity and optimal biopsychosocial outcomes for infants. The positive impacts include informing interventions to promote positive parental interactions and social support, broadening the focus to fathers.