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Marriage is an important adult relationship, and recent research indicates that sexual mindfulness, awareness and non-judgment, may be an important tool in helping maintain relational and sexual well-being. Using a nationally representative U.S. sample of newly married, mixed-sex couples (women’s age M = 29.70 years; men’s age M = 31.76 years; N = 1473 couples), we evaluated whether the two factors of sexual mindfulness, awareness and non-judgment, were linked with relational flourishing, sexual harmony, and orgasm consistency. We utilized an actor–partner interdependence model within a structural equation modeling framework to evaluate how husbands’ and wives’ awareness and non-judgment were associated with relational flourishing, sexual harmony, and orgasm consistency. Results indicated that both wives’ and husbands’ awareness was positively associated with relational flourishing, sexual harmony, and orgasm consistency. Partner effects were found for all outcomes. However, no partner effects were found between non-judgment and orgasm consistency. Therapists, educators, and couples may consider the use of sexual mindfulness skills when addressing marriage and sexual relationships.

The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of parent–child relationships in stepfamilies and explore their impact on emerging adult (EA) outcomes. Six classes of parent–child relationships ...

This study examined the longitudinal relationships among materialism, parent–child relationship quality, and psychological control for fathers and mothers. Data came from 254 heterosexual couples participating in the Flourishing Families Project, a 10-year longitudinal study of inner family life. We found that the association of parents’ materialism at T1 and parent–child relationship at T2 differed by gender. In harmony with our hypothesis, fathers’ materialism at T1 significantly predicted a decrease in father–child relationship quality at T2. Contrary to our hypothesis, mothers’ materialism at T1 was not significantly associated with mother–child relationship quality at T2. Parental psychological control was negatively related to both father–child and motherchild relationship quality but did not serve as a moderator in the relationship between materialism and parent–child relationships. That materialism appears to be detrimental to father–child relationship quality but not detract from mother–child relationship quality is thought provoking. We propose several possible explanations for these disparate findings, including a possible link between materialism and empowerment for women (but not men), and that materialism for women (but not men) may be associated with goods purchased for the benefit of the family rather than the individual. We provide suggestions for future research based on these findings.

With marriage now delayed until later in the life course, developmental and young adult scholars have increasingly focused on how relational and marital beliefs of unmarried young adults influence developmental and relational trajectories. Yet little research has explored how these same perceptions and beliefs may alter adult relationships and marriages. Using a national U.S. sample of 1,755 newlywed couples, we explored how beliefs about the centrality of marriage were associated with marital quality and commitment. A common-fate approach that simultaneously allowed for both individual and couple-level analyses was used. Results suggested that higher marital centrality beliefs separately for each partner and jointly as a couple were strongly associated with higher interpersonal commitment to one’s spouse and the general level of commitment in the relationship. Significant indirect effects found for husbands, wives, and at the couple-level suggested that higher marital centrality beliefs had an indirect association through commitment with higher relationship satisfaction, less instability, and higher reports of positive communication. Marital beliefs around the centrality of marriage appear to be strongly connected to the establishment of commitment and relationship quality among married couples. Results call for the expansion of the marital and relational belief literature into the context of adult relationships.

Mindfulness has shown positive links with conflict resolution. Additionally, couples skilled in conflict resolution report greater sexual and relationship satisfaction. However, no research has examined the moderating effect of mindfulness, specifically sexual mindfulness, between conflict resolution and sexual and relationship satisfaction. We used 1,627 couples from wave III of the Couple Relationships and Transition Experiences (CREATE) study. Sexual mindfulness moderated the association between conflict resolution and sexual satisfaction, even after controlling for attachment. Wives higher in sexual mindful awareness may rely less on conflict resolution for their sexual satisfaction. Karremans and colleagues' (2017) model of mindfulness and romantic relationships provides a framework for testing whether, when, and how mindfulness increases positive romantic relationship processes and outcomes. Under this framework, mindfulness may provide a mechanism to help couples achieve sexual and relationship satisfaction. Mindfulness and sexual mindfulness may provide a useful mechanism for therapists, educators, social workers, and couples to enhance satisfaction within the romantic and sexual relationship even without partner buy-in.

Though many fathers want to be warmer, more nurturing, and more actively involved than prior generations (i.e., the new fatherhood ideal), they also embrace a father's traditional role as financial earner. Thus, we hypothesized that fathers' attitudes about their roles would likely interact with workplace characteristics to produce variations in father warmth and engagement. Using a national sample of 1,020 employed U.S. fathers with children ages 2-8 years old, results suggest that adherence to the new fatherhood ideal was associated with more frequent father engagement and warmth, while endorsing traditional gender norms was associated with less father warmth. Also consistent with prior research showing that family friendly work cultures may enable fathers to be more engaged parents, we find that a family supportive workplace and greater flexibility in when and where fathers work, were associated with more frequent father engagement and warmth. Moreover, interaction results suggest that the associations between job flexibility and engagement are stronger for fathers who do not fully endorse the new fatherhood ideal; associations between workplace support and warmth are also stronger for fathers who do not fully endorse the new fatherhood ideal. Thus, flexibility and a family supportive workplace may particularly enable father involvement for fathers whose attitudes might otherwise be a barrier to their involvement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

This study investigates a moderated mediational model whereby maternal involvement in schooling mediates the association between maternal work-to-family conflict and children’s academic achievement in early adolescence, and socioeconomic contexts interact with maternal work status to moderate this association. Participants reflect a subsample of 725 fifth graders (and their employed mothers and teachers) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD). Of the children in this subsample, 49.4% were female and 79.7% were White, non-hispanic. On average mothers completed 14.7 years of education (SD = 2.4), with 75.4% of mothers completing more than a high school education. Multi-group analyses in SEM using Mplus 7.4 tested whether maternal work status would interact with core socioeconomic contexts (e.g., maternal education, child race, marital status, poverty status, work schedule, and number of children in the home) to moderate the relationship between maternal work-to-family conflict, maternal involvement in school, and academic outcomes. Results revealed partial mediation between maternal work-to-family conflict and achievement through maternal involvement in school. Our hypothesis that maternal work status would interact with other core socioeconomic contexts to moderate the relationship between maternal work-to-family conflict, maternal involvement in school, and academic outcomes was supported. We conclude that mothers’ involvement in school may be an important way in which negative outcomes of work-to-family conflict may be minimized. We also highlight the importance of situating maternal employment in a larger familial and socioeconomic context.

Maternal gatekeeping has been associated with reductions in father involvement and can have a negative impact on the family. Few researchers, however, have focused on how characteristics of the father contribute to gatekeeping. Consequently, this brief report is focused on associations between father depression, father adherence to masculine norms, and father reports of maternal gatekeeping. We further test whether a father's adherence to traditional masculine norms interacts with the relationship between depression and father reports of maternal gatekeeping. This study adds to the current literature on both maternal gatekeeping and father mental health. Participants in this study include 2,214 fathers from the Survey of Contemporary Fatherhood including 73% White, 10% African American, 11% Hispanic/Latinx, and 6% from other races. It was found that fathers who reported higher levels of depression also reported higher levels of maternal gatekeeping; masculinity moderated this association. The link between depression and gatekeeping was amplified when men adhered to masculine norms. Those fathers who were highest in depression and highest in masculinity were also highest in their reports of maternal gatekeeping. Although gatekeeping has historically been considered a problematic behavior, our findings suggest that when a mother's gatekeeping is correlated with potential fathering risk factors (such as depression and masculine norm adherence), gatekeeping may be a tool a mother uses to protect her children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Several decades of research have shown that parental divorce can be a stressful experience for children and may lead to depression and other negative outcomes. Similarly, research has highlighted the stressors often induced by stepfamily formation and their effects on children. Although singular family transitions can exert influence, few studies explore how the combined stress from two family transitions may interact to influence long-term outcomes. Our study addresses this gap by using national data from 1142 respondents who experienced parental divorce and a subsequent transition to stepfamily life. Congruent with prior research, we find that retrospective reports of divorce and stepfamily stress is associated with higher depressive symptoms in emerging adults (18–30 years of age). We also find that stress induced by parental divorce and subsequent stepfamily formation significantly interact to increase depressive symptoms in this population. The research and clinical implications of our findings are discussed.

Family and relationship researchers ask research questions at the dyadic- or family level, yet analyses are often conducted at the individual level. We review theoretical perspectives relative to studying families and dyads and note how they are connected with dyadic analysis techniques. We note differences in theoretical assumptions underlying the actor–partner interdependence model, the common fate model (CFM), and hybrid models that combine features of both and distinguish between the types of questions each addresses. Using third grade, sixth grade, and age 15 data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of Early Child Care and Youth Development ( N = 732), we illustrate the value of using CFM and hybrid models to explore how family chaos is associated with couple conflict resolution and child behavior problems. Dyadic- and family-level analyses may offer additional insight into family functioning, and we provide recommendations for the use of CFM in furthering this line of inquiry.

The purpose of this article was to determine whether overt financial education from parents during childhood (retrospective measure collected in the same survey wave) is associated with a greater frequency of healthy financial management behaviors in emerging adulthood, and whether this relationship is dependent on gender. Using a sample of emerging adults from the Flourishing Families dataset (N = 437), we ran two multivariate linear regressions—one with and one without the interaction variable. Results suggest that financial education from parents during childhood is linked with a greater frequency of healthy financial behaviors in emerging adulthood but was not dependent on gender. Financial educators should involve parents when teaching children about money, and they should educate parents on how to teach their children about money.

While, overall, fathers have become more involved as parents, there may be significant variability in how involved fathers are in the lives of their children. This study examines how paternal depression and masculine norm adherence affect father involvement. Using new data from the Survey of Contemporary Fatherhood ( N = 2,181) and ordinary least squares regression models, we focus on the effect of depression on four measures of fathering behavior, with masculine norm adherence as a moderator. Results indicated that depression and masculinity had independent effects on father involvement. Furthermore, masculinity moderated the effect of depression for warmth, engagement, and use of harsh parenting—but not positive control. These results have important implications for how we think about the impact of depression on parenting and the role of socialized response in understanding fathering outcomes.

Background Self-reported orgasm, perception of partner's orgasm, and misperception of partner's orgasm have each been correlated with individual sexual and relationship satisfaction, but these associations have rarely included dyadic data, have not fully accounted for potentially confounding variables such as sexual communication, and have never been simultaneously studied with a nationally representative sample. Aim To provide a more complete picture of how the orgasmic experience within the heterosexual couple influences individual and partner sexual and relationship satisfaction. Methods Using a nationally representative dyadic sample of 1,683 newlywed heterosexual couples, a structural equation model was estimated to test associations between husband and wife self-reported orgasm frequency, husband and wife report of the other partner's orgasm frequency, and husband and wife misperception of their partner's orgasm frequency, as correlates of relationship and sexual satisfaction. Outcomes Both husband and wife completed the Couples Satisfaction Index to assess their own relationship satisfaction, and completed a sexual satisfaction instrument designed for the CREATE study. Results 87% of husbands and 49% of wives reported consistently experiencing orgasm. 43% of husbands misperceived how often their wives experienced orgasm. The final structural equation model, including sexual communication, explained moderate amounts of variance in wives' and husbands' relationship satisfaction, and a high level of variance for wives' and husbands' sexual satisfaction. Wives' relationship satisfaction was positively associated with wives' and husbands' sexual communication. Wives' sexual satisfaction was positively associated with self-reported orgasm frequency, and both wives' and husbands' sexual communication. Husbands' relationship satisfaction was positively associated with husbands' and wives' sexual communication. Husbands' sexual satisfaction was positively associated with husbands' perception of wives' orgasm frequency, and both husbands' and wives' sexual communication. Clinical Translation When counseling couples, clinicians should give particular attention to the wife's orgasm experiences, to potentially help both husbands and wives have higher sexual satisfaction. Strengths & Limitations Strengths of this study include the use of a nationally representative sample and dyadic data. Limitations include cross-sectional data, and the assessment of sexual experiences only in newlywed couples. Conclusion Wives' orgasm (wives' self-report of frequency and husbands' perception of frequency) has a unique positive association with sexual satisfaction, even after taking into account other aspects of the orgasm experience and sexual communication.

Family transitions, such as stepfamily formation, can be a source of stress for adults and children. Yet, the stepfamily literature lacks a focus on factors that influence child stress levels while transitioning to stepfamily life. Using a social support perspective, the purpose of this study was to assess the independent and additive influence of closeness with three common parental figures on retrospective reports of stress experienced by children during stepfamily formation. A sample of 1139 emerging adults from a retrospective, US-based national quota sample, the Stepfamily Experiences Project, was analysed. Results indicated that parental relationships have independent, not combined, effects on stress. More specifically, we found that greater closeness with resident stepparents and resident biological parents was associated with less stress in children, whereas greater closeness with non-resident biological parents was associated with slightly greater levels of stress. These findings reflect (i) the primacy of residential relationships in children's stress reduction; (ii) the benefit of parental relationships to children as sources of social support during stressful family transitions; and (iii) the potential for children to experience stressful loyalty binds during stepfamily formation. Implications for social work practice, limitations and future directions for research are discussed.

Using family systems theory and an actor–partner interdependence model, we examine the influence of the division of family work (including fathers’ participation in child rearing) on father–child relationship quality, satisfaction with the family work division, and marital quality. The strongest effect on both spouses’ marital quality is wives’ perception of father–child relationship quality. Following this, wives’ perceptions of father participation in child rearing are positively associated with both spouses’ reports of marital quality. Furthermore, both husbands and wives report higher marital quality when they are more satisfied with the division of labor. When wives report their husbands have greater responsibility for family tasks, both spouses report higher satisfaction with the division of labor. Post hoc analyses revealed that wives are more satisfied with the division of labor when they work with their spouse rather than alone. All findings support a systemic relational orientation to family work, the division of roles, and relationship quality.

The current study sought to address gender differences in prosocial behavior by creating and validating a multidimensional measure of prosocial behavior that more fully captures the ways that men help others. The new measure is directed toward family, friend, and strangers, and has five factors: defending, emotional support, inclusion, physical helping, and sharing. In Study 1, CFA analyses performed on a sample of 463 emerging adults online (mean age 23.42) revealed good model fit and divergent validity for each of the five factors. Study 2 replicated the analyses on a sample of 453 urban adolescents in the Northwest (mean age 18.37). Results established that all factors had good model fit, construct validity, and convergent validity. The discussion focuses on implications of this measure for future prosocial research including an increased diversity in how people (particularly men) help others and developmental differences toward different targets of prosocial behavior.

In this study we explore the gap between preferred and actual work situations for mothers of young children. We further examine the effects of not meeting desired work situation preferences on mothers’ depression and parenting stress over time. Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Study of Early Child Care (1141 families) our findings indicate up to 71 percent of mothers in this sample did not achieve their preference. After controlling for marital status, ethnicity, education, income-to-needs, perceived costs of employment, and social support, both intra-individual and inter-individual assessments of the gap between a mother’s ideal and actual employment significantly predicted depression across the first three years of parenthood. Mothers’ employment hours and preferences for employment predicted parenting stress, but social support buffered this effect. We tested preliminary distinctions between maternal under-employment and over-employment and discuss implications for home and work.

This study is the first assessment of the perceived effectiveness of a parenting newsletter written specifically for fathers or father figures. The Father Times newsletter was distributed weekly for six weeks to all families of kindergarten children at a local school. One hundred seventy-seven fathers responded to a self-report questionnaire regarding usage of the parenting newsletter, perceptions of the newsletter as a resource, and impacts on fathers’ attitudes, knowledge, behaviors, and father-child relationship quality. Two-thirds of fathers in the sample reported changing at least “somewhat” in all nine outcomes explored. Neither father age nor number of children in the home influenced fathering outcomes, but fathers with lower levels of education reported greater impacts from reading the newsletter. While the newsletter targeted fathers, 70% of mothers also read the newsletter suggesting that targeting fathers may be an effective way to continue to bring parent education to mothers. It further suggests that a fathering newsletter could be a useful tool for coparenting discussions. We conclude that directly reaching out to fathers and father figures can bridge the divide between men and parent education programs, providing an effective alternative to traditional parent education programs.

Head Start programs offer a setting to examine support that facilitates father involvement. The Dakota Father Friendly Assessment (DFFA) is designed to evaluate an organization’s level of father-friendliness. To establish its psychometric properties, a sample of North and South Dakota early childhood staff (N = 609) completed the DFFA. A number of measures were included as indicators of validity. Factor analysis of the DFFA confirmed the presence of four expected factors and revealed a fifth factor (loadings ranged from .40 to .80). Coefficient alphas for DFFA subscales ranged from .71 to .87. Moderate relationships existed between DFFA subscales and other measures, demonstrating concurrent and discriminant validity. Research is needed to determine the efficacy of the DFFA in other organizational settings and to identify change over time.

Using meta-analysis, we reviewed the effectiveness of resident fathering education programs. Our review identified 16 studies with over 200 reported effect sizes. Results revealed a significant overall effect size of d = .26, with specific significant outcomes ranging from d = .14 to d = .61. Studies with father-only reports produced significantly larger effects than multiple-reporter studies; studies with no-treatment control groups produced larger effects than studies with minimal-treatment comparison groups. A lack of long-term follow-up evaluation limited our ability to examine the strength of these effects over time. Although there is some reason for optimism, more fathering education program research is needed. Indeed, the dearth of work in this area may be the most important finding of this meta-analysis.

Guided by a systemic ecological framework for father involvement, we investigate children’s, mothers’, and fathers’ contributions to observed father-child interaction. Analyses of 586 married resident fathers, their wives, and a target first-grade child (participants in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care) demonstrate that an additive model of father involvement accounts for the quality of father-child interaction better than a model which focuses on only one component of the system. Father parenting beliefs, child language skills, child social skills, maternal employment, and dyadic mother-child interaction quality each additively and significantly contribute to positive father-child interaction. Father average income and education levels relate to dyadic interaction, but individual and family characteristics account for their effects. Moderational analyses resulted in a significant interaction between father parenting beliefs and child social skills, providing preliminary support for the systemic ecological assumption that father-child interaction is better understood in a model that is not only additive but also interactive.

This study uses nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1997 to analyze adolescent outcome indexes (delinquency, substance use, and emotional and behavior problems) by gender, race, household income, and family structure. Results from analysis of variance show that family structure is correlated with better adolescent outcomes, even after controlling for gender, race, and household income. For example, adolescents from two-parent biological homes consistently reported significantly less delinquency and use of illegal substances such as alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana than adolescents from single-mother or stepfamily households. All adolescents and their parents in two-parent biological families reported significantly lower incidences of behavioral and emotional problems than adolescents and their parents in single-mother or stepfamilies. Other findings with respect to gender, race, and income, as well as some interaction effects, were also indicated by the analysis.

In this article, we report the results of an evaluation study of a program for couples during the transition to parenthood on father involvement in child care. One-hundred-twenty couples were assigned to 1 of the 3 groups: a treatment group that received the Welcome Baby new-parent, home-visiting program focused on infant develop- ment and health, supplemented with the self-guided Marriage Moments program focused on strengthening couple relationships; a comparison group that received just the Welcome Baby program; or a control group. The study revealed that the treatment group fathers were more involved in child care than control group fathers, and this find- ing was replicated in a second evaluation study. Family life educators must be open to the possibility that they may miss a primary intervention target, yet hit a secondary one. In this article, we report the results of a study evalu- ating the effects of an intervention delivered during the transition to parenthood on father involvement. The intervention was designed primarily to streng- then couple relationship outcomes but failed to produce such effects. On the other hand, we did find a treatment effect on a secondary target outcome of father involvement in child care. That is, we missed our primary target but hit a secondary target. Before describing the study and our findings, we briefly review the literatures on father involvement and child well-being, coparenting, and evaluation research of interventions designed to increase father involvement, as well as couple-focused transition-to- parenthood programs.

We used structural equation modeling to explore associations between inhibitory maternal gatekeeping attitudes, reports of inhibitory maternal gatekeeping behaviors, maternal psychological control, observed mother-adolescent warmth, and adolescent reports of maternal involvement. Our random stratified sample consisted of 315 mothers and their adolescents. Results revealed that inhibitory maternal gatekeeping attitudes were positively associated with reports of inhibitory gatekeeping behaviors. Psychological control fully mediated the relationship between inhibitory gatekeeping attitudes, reports of inhibitory gatekeeping behaviors, and adolescent reports of maternal involvement. Though gatekeeping attitudes and behaviors were not associated with observed mother-adolescent warmth, psychological control was negatively associated with observed mother-adolescent warmth. Thus, although prior research emphasized the negative effects of inhibitory gatekeeping on father-child relationships, the present research elucidates that in conjunction with psychological control, inhibitory gatekeeping negatively influences the mother-adolescent relationship. All findings are discussed in the context of family systems theory.

Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and prior empirical research, the current study examines the way that blogging and social networking may impact feelings of connection and social support, which in turn could impact maternal well-being (e.g., marital functioning, parenting stress, and depression). One hundred and fifty-seven new mothers reported on their media use and various well-being variables. On average, mothers were 27 years old (SD = 5.15) and infants were 7.90 months old (SD = 5.21). All mothers had access to the Internet in their home. New mothers spent approximately 3 hours on the computer each day, with most of this time spent on the Internet. Findings suggested that frequency of blogging predicted feelings of connection to extended family and friends which then predicted perceptions of social support. This in turn predicted maternal well-being, as measured by marital satisfaction, couple conflict, parenting stress, and depression. In sum, blogging may improve new mothers’ well-being, as they feel more connected to the world outside their home through the Internet.