Moving beyond the mother-child dyad: a commentary on Oppenheim et al. (2023)

Abstract

The research presented by Oppenheim et al. (J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 2023) breaks important new ground by moving beyond the mother-child dyad and investigating the coparenting alliance between mothers and fathers of young children with autism. By integrating family systems thinking, developmental science, and research on autism spectrum disorder, this line of research is bound to improve our understanding of how family systems influence the social emotional development of young children with autism, how children's development and learning can be optimized, and how parents' marital relationship and mental health can be strengthened. Future research should investigate the coparenting alliance across a range of family functions aside from triadic play (e.g. caregiving, teaching, attachment, and behavior management) and move beyond nuclear family structures to capture the lived experiences of families within industrialized countries more adequately and embrace cultural differences across the globe.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorders; early intervention; family functioning; parent-child interaction.