Both clinical psychoanalysts and developmental psychologists consider the relationships and interactions between mother and child to have an influence on the latter's development. The father, particularly his developing relationship with the child, has largely been neglected. In our work, we have tried to extend the investigation of the dyadic relationship between mother and child to include the father and the family triad. An important thrust of our work has been to examine determinants of the developing triadic relationship across the transition to new parenthood.

To assess parents' prenatal representations of the familial triad, we have developed an instrument to determine triadic capacity. By triadic