Shai, D;
Szepsenwol, O;
Lassri, D;
(2023)
The emotional pathway to parenthood: Parental mentalizing mediates the association between alexithymia and parental emotion regulation in the transition to parenthood.
Journal of Affective Disorders Reports
, 14
, Article 100622. 10.1016/j.jadr.2023.100622.
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Abstract
Becoming a parent is perhaps one of the most profound processes in the lives of individuals, and it entails significant psychological, neurobiological, and hormonal changes designed to facilitate successful caretaking. It is considered a highly challenging emotional transitional experience for most parents both as individuals and couples, accompanied with elevated levels of role overload and stress. Therefore, parents’ self emotion-regulation within the parenting context plays an important role in the transition to parenthood. Unfortunately, parents’ own self-regulation within the context of parenting is largely overlooked. The aim of the current investigation was to explore whether parental self emotion-regulation at six months can be predicted from a prenatally measured trait-like capacity for emotional awareness and labeling—alexithymia. Moreover, this study examined the mediation role parental mentalizing may play in this longitudinal association, while accounting for situational emotional functioning in the form of parental depression. Importantly, this mediation model was tested using an APIM model, considering he mutual influences of both partners on the other. The sample involved 104 community-based couples in the transition to parenthood (prenatally and at six-months). Results showed adults’ alexithymia, assessed prenatally, predicted parental mentalizing, which, in turn, predicted the parent's ability to regulate one own self in challenging times of parental distress, above and beyond postnatal depression. Moreover, this study revealed important dyadic associations between both parents, highlighting the importance of examining parental capacities and functioning within a systemic framework. The empirical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The emotional pathway to parenthood: Parental mentalizing mediates the association between alexithymia and parental emotion regulation in the transition to parenthood |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jadr.2023.100622 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2023.100622 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Sex, gender, trauma, stress, biopsychosocial (BPS) model |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10189259 |
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