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Contains fulltext : 231159.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) The transition to parenthood is both a joyous and a challenging event in a relationship. Studies to date have found mostly negative effects of the birth of the first child on the parental relationship. We propose that partners' pre-pregnancy individual happiness may serve as a buffer against these negative effects. We predicted that parents who are happy prior to pregnancy fare better in terms of relationship commitment after childbirth than unhappy parents. To test our prediction, we used data of a 5-wave longitudinal study among 109 Dutch newlywed couples who had their first child during the study and a comparison group of 55 couples who remained childless. We found that the relationship commitment of fathers with higher pre-pregnancy happiness and fathers with a partner with higher pre-pregnancy happiness increased slightly in the years after childbirth, whereas the relationship commitment of fathers with lower pre-pregnancy happiness and fathers with a partner with lower pre-pregnancy happiness decreased. In addition, the relationship commitment of mothers with a happier partner prior to pregnancy decreased only slightly across the transition to parenthood but showed a steeper decline for mothers with a partner with average or lower pre-pregnancy happiness. In line with the idea that happiness acts as a resource when partners have to deal with relationship challenges, individual happiness predicted changes in relationship commitment for parents, but not for partners who remained childless. 10 p.

Different forms of dyadic coping are associated with positive outcomes in partner relationships, yet little is known about dyadic coping in parent-child relationships. The current research explored the association between parent-child dyadic coping and children’s quality of life in 12–18-year old children with a chronic disease (i.e., cystic fibrosis, autoimmune diseases, and children post-cancer treatment). In a sample of 105 parent-child dyads, self-reported forms of dyadic coping (i.e., stress communication, problem-oriented, emotion-oriented, and negative dyadic coping) and children’s quality of life were assessed. Children reported more stress communication and negative dyadic coping than their parents, while parents reported more problem-oriented dyadic coping and emotion-oriented dyadic coping than their children. More stress communication of the child was associated with more emotion-oriented dyadic coping and less negative dyadic coping of the parent. More negative dyadic coping of the child was associated with less stress communication, problem-oriented dyadic coping and emotion-oriented dyadic coping of the parent. Additionally, both children’s and parents’ negative dyadic coping were associated with lower self-reported pediatric quality of life and parents’ emotion-oriented dyadic coping was associated with higher pediatric quality of life. These findings emphasize that children and their parents mutually influence each other and that dyadic coping is associated with children’s quality of life. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Neurodevelopmental theories of risk behavior hypothesize that low behavioral control in combination with high reward sensitivity explains adolescents' risk behavior. However, empirical studies examining this hypothesis while including actual risk taking behavior in adolescence are lacking. In this study we tested whether the imbalance between behavioral control and reward sensitivity underlies risk taking behavior in adolescence, using a nationally representative longitudinal sample of 715 adolescents, of which 66% revealed an increased risk for mental health problems. To assess behavioral control at age 11 we used both self-report (effortful control) as well as behavioral measures of cognitive control (i.e., working memory and response inhibition). Reward sensitivity was assessed with the Bangor Gambling Task. The main finding of this study was that effortful control at age 11 was the best predictor of risk taking behavior (alcohol and cannabis use) at age 16, particularly among adolescents who were more reward sensitive. Risk taking behavior in adolescents might be explained by relatively weak behavioral control functioning combined with high sensitivity for reward.