Hostility, flooding, and relationship satisfaction: Predicting trajectories of psychological aggression across the transition to parenthood.

Psychological aggression has been shown to have harmful effects on both partners, sometimes above and beyond the effects of physical aggression. However, very little is known about psychological aggression during the transition to parenthood. The transition to parenthood is a time where relationship satisfaction often declines and stress increases, which may put the couples at higher risk for psychological aggression.

Harmful alcohol use as a predictor of intimate partner violence during the transition to parenthood: interdependent and interactive effects.

Harmful alcohol use is known to increase the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV), however very little is known about the role of alcohol use during the transition to parenthood. The current study was designed to examine harmful alcohol use as a dyadic and interactive time-varying risk factor for psychological and physical IPV across the transition to parenthood using a sample of 98 couples assessed prenatally and again at one and two years postpartum. Longitudinal actor-partner interdependence models demonstrated that changes in harmful alcohol use during the transition to parenthood were significantly related to changes in psychological IPV for both men and women and with physical IPV for men only, whereas harmful alcohol use was actually negatively related to variations in women's physical IPV.

Posttraumatic stress, partner violence victimization, and harmful drinking: risk factors for relationship discord in new parents.

The first year of parenthood can be a stressful time, especially for high-risk couples. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS) have been associated with decreased intimacy, communication, and relationship adjustment, yet there is a lack of research on how PTS symptoms might affect couples in early parenthood. Furthermore, there is little evidence regarding the way in which PTS symptoms may affect couples above and beyond known risk factors such as intimate partner violence (IPV) and harmful alcohol use.

Do motivational interviewing behaviors predict reductions in partner aggression for men and women?

Motivational interviewing is a directive, non-confrontational intervention to promote behavior change. The current study examined therapist behaviors during a successful brief motivational interviewing intervention for physically aggressive college dating couples (Woodin & O'Leary, 2010). Forty-five minute motivational interviews with each partner were videotaped and coded using the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity scale (MITI; Moyers, Martin, Manuel, & Miller, 2003).