Psychological Adjustment in the Perinatal Period: Emotional Well-being, Bonding, and Protective Interventions for Parents and Infants

The perinatal period is a profound psychological and relational transition for parents — including mothers, fathers, and non-birthing parents — and their infants. Many parents experience heightened vulnerability to anxiety, depression, identity change, and difficulty adapting to caregiving roles. These psychological challenges shape the quality of early parent-child bonding, which in turn influences the infant’s emotional, cognitive, and social development. Protective factors — social support, emotional regulation, secure attachment, and access to timely psychological care — promote resilience and healthier family adjustment. Obstetric, hormonal, and physical-health changes are recognized as important contextual risk factors that intersect with these psychological processes, but the focus of this collection is the psychological mechanisms, experiences, and interventions themselves.While recent work has examined the cognitive and affective mechanisms underlying perinatal depression and anxiety, this collection centers on the relational and protective dimensions of adjustment — bonding, attachment, and family and social support — and their translation into psychological and digital-health interventions.Scope: We welcome contributions on:Perinatal depression, anxiety, stress, trauma, and identity transition in mothers, fathers, and non-birthing parents.Attachment and parent-infant interaction, including infant socio-emotional development and regulation in relation to caregiving quality.Emotional regulation, coping, and resilience across the transition to parenthoodSocial support and family functioning.Postpartum body image and identity-related psychosocial adjustment.The psychological impact of obstetric complications or medical risk factors (as context rather than primary aim).Screening and early psychological detection.Psychological and digital-health interventions.Health-system and cultural barriers to accessing perinatal psychological care.We invite Original Research, Systematic and Scoping Reviews, Meta-Analyses, Brief Research Reports, and Perspective articles centered on the psychological dimensions of the perinatal period. Topic editors: Bernadetta Izydorczyk, Magdalena Chrzan-Detkos Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83478/psychological-adjustment-in-the-perinatal-period-emotional-well-being-bonding-and-protective-interventions-for-parents-and-infants