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Attachment insecurity (i.e., attachment anxiety or avoidance) puts people at risk for dissatisfying relationships. However, the dyadic regulation model of insecurity buffering suggests that an understanding and responsive partner may help insecure individuals to regulate emotions, thus improving couples’ relationships. It may also be that perceiving partners as understanding and empathic, especially in an exaggeratedly positive way (i.e., positive illusions) will buffer insecurity. In 196 mixed-gender newlywed couples, we investigated whether spouses’ positive illusions about partner’s dyadic perspective-taking moderated the association between spouses’ attachment insecurity and spouses’ and partners’ marital satisfaction over two years. Positive illusions generally predicted more satisfying relationships and attachment avoidance consistently predicted more dissatisfying relationships. There were also several instances where multilevel modeling indicated that positive illusions of dyadic perspective-taking buffered the negative effects of attachment avoidance on relationship satisfaction. However, there was also potentiation such that in two instances, positive illusions about dyadic perspective-taking strengthened the association between spouses’ insecurity (husbands’ attachment anxiety and wives’ attachment avoidance) and subsequent marital dissatisfaction. In the moment, positive illusions about dyadic perspective-taking may allow spouses to feel happy in their relationship despite fear of emotional intimacy; however, positive illusions may not continue to buffer effects of insecurity on subsequent relationship satisfaction and may even be harmful in the face of insecurity.

Culturally responsive couples and family therapy requires incorporating spirituality into clinical practice at the clients’ request. Researchers led a focus group with Buddhist practitioners who work in clinical care settings to better understand the degree of fit between Buddhist practices and narrative family therapy interventions. Compatible practices included mindfulness, externalization, and self of therapist work. While narrative family therapy's model of change has points of divergence from Buddhism, there are ways to incorporate Buddhist beliefs into narrative practices.

Body satisfaction predicts sexual quality among women and men; however, mechanisms of the association are largely unknown. We hypothesized that sexual anxiety would mediate average associations over 1 year between individuals’ body satisfaction and their own and their partner’s sexual quality, which is comprised of their sexual satisfaction and dissatisfaction, in 123 mixed-sex cohabiting couples. Results of Actor–Partner Interdependence Models extended to Mediation (APIMeM) and tested via multilevel modelling partially supported the hypotheses. Specifically, individuals’ body satisfaction indirectly predicted their own and their partner’s sexual satisfaction through individuals’ sexual anxiety, and indirectly predicted their own, but not their partner’s sexual dissatisfaction through individuals’ sexual anxiety. Thus, when individuals are relatively less satisfied with their bodies, they may experience anxiety during sexual encounters, which then interferes with their own and their partner’s sexual quality.

Researchers conducted a focus group to explore the epistemological intersections between Buddhism and narrative family therapy (NFT). The data's themes indicate areas of overlap as well as potential disconnect regarding NFT's systemic understanding, evolving stories, and empowering epistemologies. These areas of convergence and divergence point to possibilities for the meaningful incorporation of Buddhist teachings and principles within the context of spiritually integrated NFT practice.

Many couples have explicit discussions regarding the emotional and sexual boundaries in their relationship, which can benefit their relational and sexual health. However, the implicit assumption in health research that couples discuss relationship boundaries to protect their sexual health is counter to evidence that many couples discuss boundaries to increase trust, closeness, and intimacy. We examined long-distance partners’ reasons for discussing boundaries and used an approach and avoidance framework to understand motives. Individuals in long-distance relationships ( N = 77 couples) described their relationship boundaries, what prompted their discussion about boundaries, and the goal of their discussion. We thematically analyzed their motives for the discussion as either approach or avoidance and identified sub-themes that emerged within the larger category of approach and avoidance motives. Most participants had discussed boundaries multiple times with their partner, and about one-third identified a specific event that triggered their discussion. A minority of individuals were motivated to discuss boundaries with their partner to avoid aversive outcomes (i.e., avoidance motives), but no participants reported motives to mitigate sexual health risks. Instead, most participants anticipated gaining individual and relational benefits from their discussion about boundaries (i.e., approach motives), which suggests that couples might be more motivated by what they have to gain by discussing boundaries and are not explicitly motivated to mitigate sexual health risks.

Sexual problems, including problems with desire, subjective arousal, initial physiological arousal, maintenance of physiological arousal, pain, and orgasm are associated with personal distress and sexual dissatisfaction. Self-compassion facilitates psychological adjustment to distressing events, and therefore we predicted that self-compassion would buffer negative effects of distress about sexual problems on sexual satisfaction in 125 mixed-sex married couples over 21 days. Individuals’ daily distress about sexual problems was negatively associated with their own and partner’s daily sexual satisfaction. Individuals’ baseline self-compassion was positively associated with their own daily sexual satisfaction, and husbands’ (but not wives’) self-compassion was positively associated with their partner’s daily sexual satisfaction. Only husbands’ self-compassion moderated associations; specifically, husbands’ distress about sexual problems was negatively associated with their daily sexual satisfaction when self-compassion was low and there was no association when self-compassion was high. The same pattern of results was observed for husbands’ distress about desire, subjective arousal, and orgasm. A different pattern emerged for cross-partner effects; there was no association between husbands’ distress about sexual problems and wives’ daily satisfaction when husbands’ self-compassion was low, but there was a negative association when husbands’ self-compassion was high. The same pattern was observed for husbands’ distress about subjective arousal, pain, initial physiological arousal, and maintaining physiological arousal. Thus, husbands’ self-compassion buffers the negative effects of distress about sexual problems on their own sexual satisfaction but potentiates the negative effects of distress on partner outcomes.

Researchers used thematic analysis to identify participant perceptions of the alignment between their faith traditions and family systems theory, structural family therapy, Bowen’s multigenerationa...

Objectives Body satisfaction during pregnancy is an important determinant of maternal and fetal health outcomes. It is therefore critical to investigate factors related to changes in body satisfaction and to elucidate how body satisfaction changes over time in pregnant women. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between two novel factors (i.e., healthy eating habit strength and physical activity habit strength) and body satisfaction during pregnancy. Methods Participants (n = 67 pregnant North American women) completed online questionnaires at the beginning of their second trimester (Time 1) and at the end of pregnancy. Maternal characteristics, relationship satisfaction, self-esteem, and psychological distress were assessed at Time 1 and habit strength, body satisfaction, and weight were assessed at both time points. Results Strength of healthy eating and physical activity habits remained stable over time and body satisfaction decreased over time. Healthy eating habit strength at Time 1 predicted increases in body satisfaction from the second trimester to the end of pregnancy, even when controlling for gestational weight gain. Conclusions This study suggests that health-related habit strength in women of reproductive age may offer protection against low levels of body satisfaction during pregnancy.

Body satisfaction predicts sexual quality among women and men; however, mechanisms of the association are largely unknown. We hypothesized that sexual anxiety would mediate average associations over 1 year between individuals' body satisfaction and their own and their partner's sexual quality, which is comprised of their sexual satisfaction and dissatisfaction, in 123 mixed-sex cohabiting couples. Results of Actor-Partner Interdependence Models extended to Mediation (APIMeM) and tested via multilevel modelling partially supported the hypotheses. Specifically, individuals' body satisfaction indirectly predicted their own and their partner's sexual satisfaction through individuals' sexual anxiety, and indirectly predicted their own, but not their partner's sexual dissatisfaction through individuals' sexual anxiety. Thus, when individuals are relatively less satisfied with their bodies, they may experience anxiety during sexual encounters, which then interferes with their own and their partner's sexual quality.

Finkel, Rusbult, Kumashiro, and Hannon (2002, Study 1) demonstrated a causal link between subjective commitment to a relationship and how people responded to hypothetical betrayals of that relationship. Participants primed to think about their commitment to their partner (high commitment) reacted to the betrayals with reduced exit and neglect responses relative to those primed to think about their independence from their partner (low commitment). The priming manipulation did not affect constructive voice and loyalty responses. Although other studies have demonstrated a correlation between subjective commitment and responses to betrayal, this study provides the only experimental evidence that inducing changes to subjective commitment can causally affect forgiveness responses. This Registered Replication Report (RRR) meta-analytically combines the results of 16 new direct replications of the original study, all of which followed a standardized, vetted, and preregistered protocol. The results showed little effect of the priming manipulation on the forgiveness outcome measures, but it also did not observe an effect of priming on subjective commitment, so the manipulation did not work as it had in the original study. We discuss possible explanations for the discrepancy between the findings from this RRR and the original study.

Relationship self-efficacy (RSE) is the belief that one can resolve relationship conflicts, and it may lead victims of situational violence to remain in their relationships because they expect to minimize subsequent violence. Indeed, a longitudinal study of two samples of college students demonstrated that RSE moderates the effects of victimization on relationship dissolution; intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization was positively associated with dissolution among intimates low in RSE but was unassociated with dissolution among intimates high in RSE. Interestingly, although RSE was negatively associated with dissolution among victims, it was associated with experiencing less subsequent IPV in one sample. Ultimately, whether victims' RSE is adaptive may depend on the extent to which any minimization of conflicts eliminates violence.

Celebrating good news with others (i.e., capitalization) is associated with positive affect and relationship well-being. However, it remains unclear whether the benefits of capitalization result in enduring changes in personal and relationship well-being, and whether contextual factors (i.e., chronic stress) moderate the value of positive capitalization experiences. We examined contemporaneous and time-lagged associations between capitalization perceptions and marital satisfaction or depression symptoms in 192 newlywed couples over two years. We also examined whether chronic stress moderated the effects of capitalization perceptions on depression symptoms and marital satisfaction. Multilevel analyses indicated that capitalization perceptions predicted contemporaneous and time-lagged changes in marital satisfaction for husbands and wives and contemporaneous and time-lagged changes in wives’, but not husbands’, depression symptoms. In other words, the more positively spouses viewed their partner's responses...

Objective: To test whether the effects of relationship education programs generalize across couples regardless of their baseline levels of risk for relationship distress, or whether intervention effects vary systematically as a function of risk. The former result would support primary prevention models; the latter result would support a shift toward secondary prevention strategies. Method: Engaged and newlywed couples (N 130) were randomized into 1 of 3 relationship education programs. Individual and relational risk factors assessed at baseline were tested as moderators of 3-year changes in relationship satisfaction, overall and in each of the 3 treatment conditions. Results: Treatment effects varied as a function of risk, and more so with variables capturing relational risk factors than individual risk factors. High-risk couples (e.g., couples with lower levels of baseline commitment and satisfaction) tended to decline less rapidly in satisfaction than low-risk couples following treatment. Couples with acute concerns at baseline, including higher levels of physical aggression and alcohol use, benefitted less from intervention than couples without these concerns. Comparisons across treatment conditions indicate that couples with relatively high baseline satisfaction and commitment scores declined faster in satisfaction when assigned to an intensive skill-based intervention, as compared with a low-intensity intervention. Conclusions: Outcomes of skill-based relationship education differ depending on premarital risk factors. Efficient identification of couples at risk for adverse relationship outcomes is needed to refine future prevention efforts, and deploying prevention resources specifically to at-risk populations may be the most effective strategy for strengthening couples and families. What is the public health significance of this article? Among couples beginning their first marriage, those reporting some difficulties in their relationship generally respond better to educational interventions than those entering marriage with stronger relationships. Well-functioning couples may not need intensive, skills-based relationship education, and it may actually hurt their relationship. Classifying couples on the basis of their strengths and weaknesses would help ensure that the nature and intensity of their intervention corresponds with their area of need.

Polyamory is characterized by simultaneous consensual romantic relationships with multiple partners. Polyamory allows individuals to fulfill their relationship needs with multiple romantic partners, yet researchers have not identified how having needs met in one romantic relationship may be related to relationship outcomes in a concurrent relationship. Polyamorous individuals (N=1,093) completed online measures of need fulfillment, relationship satisfaction, and commitment for two concurrent romantic relationships. Participants reported high levels of need fulfillment and satisfaction in both relationships. Need fulfillment with one partner negatively predicted approximately 1% of the variance in relationship satisfaction with the other partner; however, there was no association between need fulfillment with one partner and commitment to the other. Generally, the findings suggest that polyamorous relationships are relatively independent of one another. This study provides initial evidence that polyamory may be a viable and fulfilling alternative way of conducting intimate relationships.

Although accumulating microlongitudinal research has examined emotion regulatory models of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), few studies have examined how interpersonal contingencies influence daily NSSI behavior. Participants with repeated NSSI (N = 60) provided daily ratings of perceived social support, interpersonal conflict, and NSSI urges and behaviors for 14 days. Consistent with interpersonal models of NSSI, we hypothesized that participants would be more likely to engage in NSSI on days when they experienced high levels of interpersonal conflict, that NSSI acts that were revealed to others would be followed by desirable interpersonal changes (i.e., greater support, less conflict), and that these interpersonal changes would, in turn, predict stronger NSSI urges and more frequent NSSI behavior. Consistent with hypotheses, daily conflict was associated with stronger same-day NSSI urges and greater likelihood of NSSI acts. Perceived support increased following NSSI acts that had been revealed to others, but not unrevealed NSSI acts. This perceived support was, in turn, associated with a stronger NSSI urges and greater likelihood of engaging in NSSI on the following day. Moreover, participants whose NSSI was revealed to others engaged in more total NSSI acts during the diary period than those whose NSSI was not revealed to others. Inconsistent with hypotheses, interpersonal conflict did not decrease following NSSI, regardless of whether or not these acts were revealed to others. Together, these results provide preliminary support for interpersonal reinforcement models of NSSI and highlight the importance of expanding research in this area to include interpersonal contingencies that may influence this behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record

Associations among perceptions of partner responses to disclosures about capitalization and support experiences and relationship satisfaction were examined over 1 year in 268 individuals in romantic relationships. Multi-level modeling indicated that capitalization and support perceptions covaried over 1 year, but they independently predicted contemporaneous relationship satisfaction and appeared to be compensatory processes. However, with increasing relationship duration, support perceptions became more strongly associated with relationship satisfaction, whereas capitalization perceptions became less strongly associated with relationship satisfaction, suggesting that capitalization perceptions may play less of a buffering role with time. Results suggested that perceiving partners as interested and enthusiastic in the face of triumph, and as caring and supportive in the face of difficulties, serve important and independent relationship maintenance functions.

Individual beliefs and expectations regarding gender roles influence interpersonal behavior. If family therapists ignore or avoid discussions regarding gender roles, change may ultimately be inhibited. The Cognitive-Active Gender Role Identification Continuum (CAGRIC) is a framework that may facilitate a therapist's discussion of gender roles and the ways in which gender role expectations impact their clients’ relationships. Using data from the 2002 International Social Survey Program module on “Family and Changing Gender Roles,” this study examines the gender role classifications proposed by the CAGRIC model and the influence of gender role beliefs and behaviors on relationship satisfaction. Data from Australia, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Russia, Spain, and the United States are used to test the clustering and congruence hypotheses of the CAGRIC model. Results suggest support for the clustering hypothesis of the model, especially in Western countries.

In a two-year study of 190 newlywed couples, multi-level contemporaneous and time-lagged models indicated that marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms covaried over time, but only marital satisfaction predicted subsequent changes in depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms did not predict subsequent changes in marital satisfaction. Average levels of chronic stress moderated the contemporaneous association between marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms as an outcome; for husbands, higher average non-marital stress (but not marital stress) strengthened the association and for wives, higher marital stress (but not non-marital stress) strengthened the association. The contemporaneous association between depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction as an outcome strengthened when marital stress was higher (for wives only), but contrary to prediction, the association weakened for both spouses when non-marital chronic stress was higher. Chronic stress (marital or non-marital) did not moderate time-...

We investigated whether residual partner perceptions (after controlling spouses’ self-reports) of physical and psychological aggression predicted marital satisfaction in 188 heterosexual newlywed couples over the first 6 months of marriage. Husbands’ and wives’ reports of physical and psychological aggression were moderately associated, highlighting the mutuality of aggression and consensus between spouses’ reports. Results of path analyses in structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that to the extent that wives perceived their husbands as more physically and psychologically aggressive than spouses self-reported, wives were less maritally satisfied. To the extent that husbands’ perceived their wives as more psychologically aggressive than spouses self-reported, husbands were marginally less maritally satisfied. Generally, spouses’ self- and partner reports of physical or psychological aggression did not predict partners’ marital satisfaction or changes in marital satisfaction over 6 months. However, results suggested that at least concurrently, spouses’ perceptions of partners’ aggressive behavior play an important role in marital satisfaction, and this may be especially true for wives.

Altered book making is a form of art in which people alter an existing book using a variety of materials. In narrative therapy the primary objective is to help clients find stories in their lives that allow them to gain flexibility and insight in their ability to resolve challenges. We show how altered book making can help clients explore their lives for alternative narratives. Clients who engage in the art form are to use the pages in the book to represent narratives in their lives. The exercise of reauthoring a book that already exists symbolizes the parallel possibilities that clients have to reauthor their own lives. The altered book making process also helps therapists facilitate narrative conversations that are otherwise static. Using dominant stories, externalization, and unique outcomes, the therapist may help clients penetrate stories that generate new meaning and alternative stories that clients may then use to resolve their dilemmas.

The concepts of traditional and nontraditional gender roles in Western culture, the impact of family of origin on gender role development, and different developmental theories of gender role identification are reviewed. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of gender role identification, the Cognitive-Active Gender Role Identification Continuum model is introduced. This model aids in the understanding of differences between cognitions and actions and levels of flexibility and rigidity that may be displayed in individuals in regard to gender roles. This model may be beneficial in understanding conflicts pertaining to gender role differences in a therapeutic setting with couples and families.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether premarital relationship education and characteristics of relationship education in a community sample of newlywed couples predicted marital trajectories over 27 months. Newlywed couples (N = 191) completed measures of marital satisfaction 9 times over 27 months, and prior to marriage they provided information about relationship education and demographic, personal, and relationship risk factors for marital distress. Propensity scores (i.e., the probability of receiving relationship education) were estimated using the marital distress risk factors, and used to derive a matched sample of 72 couples who participated in relationship education and 86 couples who did not. Multilevel analyses of the propensity score matched sample (n = 158) indicated that wives who participated in relationship education had declines in marital satisfaction while wives who did not receive relationship education maintained satisfaction over time. Furthermore, the more hours of relationship education the couple participated in, the less steeply their marital satisfaction declined. Findings indicate that participation in community-based relationship education may not prevent declines in marital satisfaction for newlywed couples. A possible explanation is that the quality of relationship education available to couples is generally poor and could be greatly improved by inclusion of empirically based relationship information and skills training that are known to lead to stronger marriages.

OBJECTIVES: This study was undertaken to examine bidirectional effects of well-being over time in long-wed couples. METHOD: We recruited 125 couples 50+ years of age who had been married 20+ years. Both spouses reported life satisfaction and depressive symptoms independently at three annual points over 2 years. We computed actor–partner interdependence models (APIMs) to identify concomitant and longitudinal bidirectional effects between long-wed spouses. Where parallel associations were found between models of life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, we undertook invariance analyses to compare the relative strength of associations. RESULTS: We observed a significant association between wives’ and their husbands’ life satisfaction at baseline; a concomitant crossover effect was also evident from wives to husbands at 1- and 2-year follow-up, such that wives’ life satisfaction predicted changes in their husbands’ life satisfaction beyond that previously and concomitantly reported. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that older wives influence their husbands after decades of marriage; the relative effect of this crossover on older husbands is comparatively equivalent for life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. These findings stand in contrast to prior research with younger couples suggesting that long-wed couples may be a distinct subset of the population of all married couples (i.e., those who have not divorced).

Demographic and relationship quality data were collected from 704 individuals recruited to participate in a randomized study of relationship enhancing interventions. Recruiting at bridal shows produced partners who were more satisfied, earlier in their relationships, and less likely to be parents, with a marginally higher proportion of Latino couples. Radio and television coverage produced more established couples with higher levels of relationship discord. Self-selection effects revealed that couples from demographic groups at greater risk for divorce (those who had not completed high school, those with children at marriage, and African American couples) were more likely to agree to participate. In contrast, imposing a set of common selection criteria served to exclude couples from demographic risk groups and selected for couples with higher marital quality. Implications for recruiting couples to participate in preventive interventions are outlined.

Two studies examined the association between depressive symptoms and romantic involvement in adolescence and tested the hypothesis that romantic involvement is associated more strongly with symptoms among adolescents who have a more preoccupied style of relating, compared to adolescents who have a less preoccupied style of relating. Study 1 (N ¼ 96 early adolescent females) examined concurrent associations and Study 2 (N ¼ 80 late adolescent males and females) examined longitudinal associations. In both age groups, romantic involvement was associated with greater depressive symptoms and this was most true among adolescents with a preoccupied style of relating. Implications for models of depression and adolescent romantic functioning are discussed.

In 10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy, Gottman and Gottman (2015) provide yet another engaging read on strengthening couple relationships. While the text generally reflects principle...

The authors examined how positive perceptions about partners’ attachment security predicted supportive behavior and satisfaction in newlywed marriage. The authors tested a mediation model in which positive perceptions were associated with adaptive support behavior, which in turn predicted increases in marital satisfaction. The self-report measures of attachment security, perceptions of partner’s attachment security, and marital satisfaction within 6 months of marriage and again 1 year later were completed by 172 couples. Social support behavior was assessed by videotaped interactions at the initial session. Structural equation models indicated that positive perceptions served a relationship-enhancing function that was enacted, in part, through couples’ supportive interactions.

Objective Evidence in support of skill-based programs for preventing marital discord and dissolution, while promising, comes mainly from studies using single treatment conditions, passive assessment-only control conditions, and short-term follow-up assessments of relationship outcomes. This study overcomes these limitations and further evaluates the efficacy of skill-based programs. Method Engaged and newlywed couples (N = 174) were randomly assigned to a 4-session, 15-hr small-group intervention designed to teach them skills in managing conflict and problem resolution (PREP) or skills in acceptance, support, and empathy (CARE). These couples were compared to each other, to couples receiving a 1-session relationship awareness (RA) intervention with no skill training, and to couples receiving no treatment on 3-year rates of dissolution and 3-year trajectories of self-reported relationship functioning. Results Couples in the no-treatment condition dissolved their relationships at a higher rate (24%) than couples completing PREP, CARE, and RA, who did not differ on rates of dissolution (11%). PREP and CARE yielded unintended effects on 3-year changes in reported relationship behaviors. For example, wives receiving PREP showed slower declines in hostile conflict than wives receiving CARE, and husbands and wives receiving CARE showed faster declines in positive behaviors than husbands and wives receiving PREP. Conclusions These findings highlight the potential value of cost-effective interventions such as RA, cast doubt on the unique benefits of skill-based interventions for primary prevention of relationship dysfunction, and raise the possibility that skill-based interventions may inadvertently sensitize couples to skill deficits in their relationships.

People differ in what they think makes for a successful relationship, but it is unclear how these beliefs relate to the perpetration of violence. Four studies ( N = 2,591) examined the relationship between growth beliefs and the perpetration of violence in close relationships. Specifically, the current work tested the hypothesis that growth beliefs mitigate against close relationship violence, possibly due to increased satisfaction with sacrificing one’s own self-interest for the betterment of the relationship. Studies 1 and 2 provided cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence that growth beliefs predicted less perpetration of close relationship violence. Studies 3 and 4 showed that the relationship between growth beliefs and lower perpetration of violence was mediated by satisfaction with sacrifice within one’s relationship. All effects of growth beliefs remained significant after controlling for destiny beliefs. Discussion centers on the importance of implicit theories of relationships for understanding the perpetration of violence in close relationships.

Few events have the potential to transform a marriage as much as the arrival of a child. In a short span of time, the profound feelings of joy and awe that parents experience when bringing a new life into the world combine with unfamiliar but urgent child-care tasks, uncharted negotiations between sleep-deprived partners, reductions in leisure time, changes in work patterns, fluctuations in moods and desires for intimacy, increased interactions with medical professionals, financial challenges, and new relationships with friends and family members. How couples navigate these myriad changes is likely to affect the course of their relationship; the infant's experience of the family as a safe, nurturing, and predictable environment; and the maturing child's emotional development and social competence. Social scientists have long recognized the pivotal consequences that the first child's arrival has on couples and families, and with 50 years now having now passed since LeMaster's (1957) seminal study on this topic, it is time to take stock of the large and varied body of research that has accumulated. Doing so is valuable not simply because the first child's arrival provides a window into how marriages naturally change but also because understanding change during this period can strengthen the empirical foundation for psychoeducational interventions designed to promote healthy family formation and development. Most of the work on the transition to parenthood can be linked to the following question: To what extent does the first child's arrival affect spouses' marital satisfaction? This question is critical to address given that marital satisfaction is strongly associated with the 50% divorce rate in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005), with spouses' psychological (e.g., depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse; e.g., Whisman & Uebelacker, 2006) and physical health (e.g., Kiecolt-Glaser & Newton, 2001), and with children's well-being (e.g., Amato & Keith, 1991). To address the effects of the first child on marital satisfaction, researchers have typically used one of two distinct methodological approaches. In the first approach, researchers compare couples with and without children to estimate the degree to which the child's arrival contributes to relationship satisfaction and relational processes, and they conduct repeated measures

The purpose of the present study was to discriminate between the 2 dominant perspectives governing research on the nature of marital change over the transition to parenthood. Progress can be made in understanding this transition by recognizing the role of uncontrolled sources of variability in research designs, defining and using control groups, and timing of data collection around the child's arrival, and the authors conducted a study incorporating these methodological refinements. Growth curve analyses were conducted on marital satisfaction data collected twice before and twice after the birth of the 1st child and at corresponding points for voluntarily childless couples (N = 156 couples). Spouses who were more satisfied prior to pregnancy had children relatively early in marriage, and parents experienced greater declines in marital satisfaction compared to nonparents. Couples with planned pregnancies had higher prepregnancy satisfaction scores, and planning slowed husbands' (but not wives') postpartum declines. In sum, parenthood hastens marital decline--even among relatively satisfied couples who select themselves into this transition--but planning status and prepregnancy marital satisfaction generally protect marriages from these declines.

Associations among prenatal expectations, the extent to which expectations were confirmed or disconfirmed, and trajectories of marital satisfaction over the transition to parenthood were assessed 7-11 times in a sample of newlywed couples. Piecewise growth curve analyses were conducted to examine levels of marital satisfaction at the beginning of marriage and rates of change over 2 periods: from the beginning of marriage through the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy through 18 months postpartum. Postpartum marital decline was greater than decline from marriage through pregnancy. Spouses who were more satisfied at the beginning of marriage reported higher expectations. There was marked variability in the extent to which prenatal expectations were confirmed; some expectations were unfulfilled, others were met, and still others were surpassed. Associations between the extent to which expectations were confirmed and rates of change in marital decline differed as a function of the specific type of expectation. Implications for understanding vulnerability and resiliency in couples negotiating the transition to parenthood are discussed.

The study tested the key assumption of the individual difference model of adult attachment change: that people who have experienced certain vulnerability factors will be prone to change attachment styles because they have developed unclear models of self and others that render their attachment models unstable. This model was compared to a life stress model, which states that change occurs as an adaptation to new, interpersonally relevant life circumstances. Changes in self-reported and interviewer-assessed attachment were examined among 94 young adults who were followed over 1 year. Analyses yielded support for the individual difference model for change in both self-reported and interviewer-assessed attachment. The life stress model was supported for change in interviewer-assessed attachment only. Implications for differential change processes for self-reported versus interviewer-assessed aspects of adult attachment are discussed.

In Not “Just Friends,” Glass (2003) provides readers with a thorough and easy-to-read account of infidelity. The book is broken down into four parts that address the slippery slope to infidelity, t...

In this chapter, we explore the links between individual differences in adult attachment and social support processes. First, we review attachment theory and research, and the theoretical and empirical links between attachment and social support in adulthood. We then present a model of the processes through which attachment may impact upon various aspects of social support. Drawing on this model, we describe how we expect each of four distinct attachment patterns to be associated with social support processes, incorporating case studies to illustrate our hypotheses. Finally, we discuss the limitations of our model.