From me to us: The construction of family alliance.

This longitudinal prospective and multi-informant study based on a three-wave research program (pregnancy, 12 months postpartum, and 16 months postpartum) aimed to determine the process of construction of family alliance, as assessed by the Lausanne Trilogue Play. A model using parents’ individual characteristics (i.e., personality traits and attachment orientations) as distal variables, coparenting as a mediator, child’s temperament as a moderator, and family alliance as outcome was tested using structural equation modelling on 62 non-referred families. Results showed that both parents’ Conscientiousness was positively and mothers’ Avoidant attachment and fathers’ Anxious attachment were negatively and indirectly (via coparenting) associated with the family alliance. The discussion underlines mothers’ and fathers’ different roles and the importance of coparenting as a core mechanism in the development of family alliance.