The role of nurturant schemas in human reproduction

In this chapter, I summarize a previously developed theoretical framework (Miller & Rodgers, 2001) that integrates the biopsychodyadic factors affecting human bonding, with an emphasis on nurturant bonding. The central construct in this framework is that of the bonding schema. After describing the motivational substrate that underlies nurturant schemas, I then discuss the role that this substrate plays in human parenting, including the behaviors that anticipate and lead to bearing a child and those that occur in response to having and caring for a child.