Newborn behavior, parent-infant interaction, and developmental change processes: research roots of developmental, relational, and systems-theory-based practice

The discovery of individual and cross-cultural differences among newborns, and their effects on caregiver behaviors, underpins a systems theory of human development and a resulting paradigm shift. This theory accommodates both epigenetics-mediating genes and environment within the individual, and culture-a dynamic, emergent phenomenon transmitting contextually adaptive child-rearing beliefs and practices. Within human systems, children and parents' development is also propelled by mutual adaptation occurring through the microprocesses of early interactions and through normative periods of disorganization and reorganization (touchpoints). This paradigm shift in developmental theory calls for parallel shifts in clinical practice and organizational structures and processes.