This study investigated the influence of fathers on early triadic family interactions including transgenerational, representational, and interactional dimensions. A prospective longitudinal study was conducted with a nonclinical sample of parents, beginning with their pregnancy, and their firstborn infants. This paper reports the results of the first part of the study that extended to the infant's fourth month of life. The parents' subjective views about their parenthood and the unborn child were systematically analyzed during pregnancy, focusing on the importance of fathers for the development of the infant and the family as anticipated in the parental fantasies. These representational dimensions were compared with the quality of dyadic and triadic parent-child interactions observed after the child was born. There was a significant correlation between the triadic level of mothers' and fathers' representations and the qualities of dyadic father-infant interactions as well as the qualities of triadic family interactions. A specific and significant correlation was found between aspects of the father's representational world and the 4-monthold infant's capacity to get into a well-balanced contact with both parents in a triadic interactional setting.
RESUMEN: Este estudio investigo ´la influencia que tiene el padre en las interacciones entre los miembros de la trı ´ada familiar, tanto en las dimensiones transgeneracionales, como en los aspectos de representacio ´n e interaccio ´n. Se llevo ´a cabo un potencial estudio longitudinal con un grupo no clı ´nico de padres, comenzando con el embarazo y sus infantes primerizos. Este ensayo reporta los resultados de la primera parte del estudio, la cual se extendio ´hasta el cuarto mes de vida del infante. Los puntos de vista subjetivos de los padres sobre el tener hijos, y sobre el infante no nacido se analizaron sistema ´ticamente durante el embarazo, con un enfoque en la importancia del padre en el desarrollo del infante y la familia, tal como se presentaba en la imaginacio ´n de los padres. Estas dimensiones de representacio ´n fueron comparadas con la calidad de las interacciones bipartitas y tripatritas entre padre e hijo que fueron observadas despue ´s