PARENT-INFANT RELATIONSHIP ASSESSMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT “AT RISK” AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS: MOTHER-INFANT AND MOTHER-FATHER-INFANT INTERACTIONAL DYNAMICS.

Proposer: Lucarelli Loredana (1) (1) Department of Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, University of Cagliari Discussant: Agostini Francesca (2) (2) University of Bologna The assessment of Parent-Infant Relationship is rooted in the work of infant-parent clinicians and developmental researchers who argue that a full understanding of parent-child dyadic and triadic interactions, especially if constricted, conflicted, or misattuned is crucially important. This Symposium will analyze different perspectives on the assessment of Infant-Parent relationships in families with preterm children, children with infantile feeding disorders, with specific language disorders, or with other different clinical diagnoses. The first contribution will deal with a sample of preterm children exploring parental stress, social support, and family interactions using the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP); the interplay between biological and environmental factors will be discussed to enhance preventive programs that promote parental role and the child’s development. The second presentation will report data on the validation of the Parent-Child Relationship Scale and will show, through the comparison between clinical vs non-clinical children, differences in the quality of parent-child relationship with respect to withdrawal and anxiety factors; relations between quality of parent-child relationship and child symptomatic pattern will be shown. The third contribution will deal with a sample of toddlers with specific language disorders exploring the quality of interactive dynamics in their families and within peer group; this presentation will show the impact of the quality of interactions, as well as the need to support families. The fourth contribution will present data on the assessment of dyadic and triadic interactions in a sample of families with children diagnosed with Infantile Anorexia; it will be shown that considering both dyadic and triadic fenomena is useful in the clinical understanding of the role played by interactive difficulties in the onset and maintenance of IA; considerations on the application of the LTP to the feeding context will be made.