Genetic and subjective sensitivity, relationship dynamics, and psychological distress in couples.

Positive and negative aspects of intimate relationships influence mental health and well-being in couples. According to the environmental sensitivity framework, individuals differ in how strongly they are affected by their environment, with some individuals being more or less sensitive to both negative and positive experiences. The present study examined the longitudinal associations between positive and negative relationship dynamics, including marital satisfaction, positive bonding, and negative communication, and psychological distress as well as the extent to which individual differences in genetic and subjective measures of environmental sensitivity moderated the association between relationship dynamics and psychological distress in a sample of couples in the U.

Racial discrimination and parenting perceptions among low-income Black couples.

Racism affects Black individuals in the United States through multiple institutional, social, and economic injustices. Relationship scientists have called for greater attention to the potentially harmful effects racism might exert on Black families. A small literature has begun to document negative associations between experiences of racism and romantic relationship functioning.

Relationship functioning moderates the link between history of childhood maltreatment and depression during pregnancy.

Prenatal depression is a significant health issue associated with increased risk for poor mental and physical health outcomes among for both parents and their children. Having a history of childhood maltreatment is associated with increased risk for prenatal depression. Although research suggests that romantic relationship functioning likely plays a role in the links between childhood maltreatment and prenatal depression, it remains to be tested which aspects of relationship functioning modulate these associations.

Impact of Prenatal Group Healthy Relationship Education on Postpartum Contraception.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the impact of an antenatal group healthy relationship education program on the postpartum use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC).

Materials And Methods: This is a planned subgroup analysis of a larger randomized controlled trial. Pregnant and newly parenting women were randomized to either group healthy relationship education, "MotherWise," or no additional services.

Does income moderate basic relationship processes?

Objective: This study explores whether household income moderates the predictive association from adaptive processes (positive and negative interactions and commitment), enduring vulnerabilities (psychological distress), and stressors (financial strain) to future relationship satisfaction?

Background: Theory and research have long conceptualized socioeconomic status as a predictor of couple relations, but recent work questions whether socioeconomic status may moderate basic couple relationship processes.

Method: This study used data from a U.S.

Longitudinal Associations Among Adolescents' Sexual Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors.

Youth sex and relationship education programs aim to improve adolescent well-being by changing their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes regarding sex and their health. However, there is a gap in existing research linking these cognitive targets to relevant behaviors, and a particular dearth of data on links with sexual behaviors. The current study tested longitudinal links between cognitive factors related to sex (attitudes about sex, normative beliefs, risk-avoidant intentions, and confidence in refusal skills) and outcomes of sexual behaviors (recent sexual encounters, number of sexual partners, and frequency of condom use).

Changes in couple, parenting, and individual functioning following Family Expectations program participation.

The current study investigated changes in couple, parenting, and individual functioning following participation in Family Expectations, a relationship and parenting education program for new or expectant parents. The sample comprised 339 couples who participated in most sessions of the Family Expectations program and completed assessments at three different time points over a 12-month period. Study analyses examined: (a) change shortly following completion of the program, (b) associations between short-term change and subsequent change in outcomes at 12-month follow-up, and (c) differences in short-term change between married and unmarried couples.

Overlap of relationship distress and intimate partner violence in community samples.

Mixed-gender couples presenting for couple therapy are at 2-3 times higher risk for physical intimate partner violence (IPV) than community couples. However, it is unclear if this elevation of relative risk is the same in the general population because relationship distress and treatment-seeking are often confounded. We used archival data from three representative U.

Introduction to special section: Federally funded, community-based healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood program impact studies.

The focus of this special section is impact studies that were conducted as part of the Administration for Children and Families' Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood initiative. This initiative has led to more than 2 million people receiving relationship education and fatherhood programs across the United States over the last two decades. Community organizations develop these programs, select their curricula and content, and run these programs in their local communities.

A Latent Class Analysis of Predictors for Engaging in Sex: A Study with Ethnically Diverse High School Students.

Sexual activity occurs among a large portion of young adults and adolescents, including high school students. While about 40% of high school students nationwide have engaged in sexual intercourse, more information is needed about how individual characteristics may relate to larger patterns of adolescent sexual behavior. This exploratory study utilized a latent class analysis (LCA) to identify clusters of high school students ( = 801) based on demographic characteristics, sexual refusal skills, healthy relationship skills, sociosexuality, internalizing symptoms, alcohol use, various forms of social support (i.

Impact evaluation of the family expectations program and moderation by sociodemographic disadvantage.

The federal government, through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), has funded community-based relationship education programs for couples, individuals, and families, with a strong focus on serving economically disadvantaged and racially diverse families. This study evaluated the impact of a 36-hour, workshop-based couple relationship education program that was funded by ACF using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design and intent-to-treat (ITT) analyses. Participants were 1320 couples who were either expecting a baby or had a baby within the past 3 months, at the time of enrollment.

Relationship education for women during pregnancy: The impact of MotherWise on birth outcomes.

The field of relationship science has called for more research on the impact of relationship education on child outcomes, yet studies in this area remain sparse, particularly regarding maternal and infant health at birth. Research on group prenatal care demonstrates that individual-oriented group interventions have a positive impact on infant birth outcomes, suggesting the need to consider the impacts of other forms of group programming for women. The current study examined the impact of MotherWise, an individual-oriented relationship education and brief case management/coaching program for minority and low-income pregnant women, on birth outcomes.

Genetic sensitivity predicts long-term psychological benefits of a relationship education program for married couples.

Objective: Relationship education programs have proven effective in promoting relationship quality and preventing divorce among married couples. However, according to theories of , people differ for genetic reasons in their sensitivity to environmental influences with some more affected by both negative and positive experiences, including psychological interventions.

Method: Here we test in two studies whether the positive effects of the established (PREP) are moderated by two different polygenic scores (PGS) for environmental sensitivity, one based on nine established candidate genes and one based on several thousand variants across the genome, derived from recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) results.

Moderated mediation in relationship education: Communication, commitment, and sociodemographic disadvantage.

This study tested moderated mediation-that is, whether the mechanisms of program impacts are different for different groups of people-in the Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) study of relationship education (RE) programs for low-income married couples. Large-scale evaluations of RE programs have yielded small effects in community settings. Understanding program mechanisms specific to disadvantaged populations may help improve program impacts.

Impact and implementation findings from a cluster randomized trial of a youth relationship education curriculum.

The current study presents implementation and impact data from a cluster randomized trial of a youth relationship education curriculum. High school students (n = 1,135) were randomized at the school level to receive curricula-as-usual or a healthy relationships program delivered by facilitators who were not employed by the high schools. Program evaluators reported high engagement and students indicated high satisfaction with the program, but multilevel models showed no statistically significant impacts on healthy relationship skills, attitudes, and behaviors at three and nine months post-intervention.

Helping couples achieve relationship success: A decade of progress in couple relationship education research and practice, 2010-2019.

This article systematically reviewed 34 rigorous evaluation studies of couple relationship education (CRE) programs from 2010 to 2019 that met the criteria for Level 1 well-established interventions. Significant advances include reaching more diverse and disadvantaged target populations with positive intervention effects on a wider range of outcomes beyond relationship quality, including physical and mental health, coparenting, and even child well-being, and evidence that high-risk couples often benefit the most. In addition, considerable progress has been made delivering effective online CRE, increasing services to individuals rather than to couples, and giving greater attention to youth and young adults to teach them principles and skills that may help them form healthy relationships.

Happy, healthy, and wedded? How the transition to marriage affects mental and physical health.

Decades of research have documented the apparent health benefits of marriage, but the dynamics of how health may change across the transition to marriage are not fully understood. In two studies, we compared being unmarried or married on several indices of mental and physical health. In Study 1, we used a national sample of 1,078 individuals in different-sex relationships who completed surveys by mail.

Online relationship education for help-seeking low-income couples: A Bayesian replication and extension of the OurRelationship and ePREP programs.

Low-income couples are at increased risk for relationship instability and divorce. In response, online relationship education programs such as ePREP and OurRelationship have been developed to more easily reach this population. A previous trial indicated that these programs promote relationship functioning (Doss et al.

Political Party Identification and Romantic Relationship Quality.

Although there are studies on voting similarity in mate selection, very little research has examined party identification and relationship quality. We assessed associations between reports of personal and partner voting behavior (Democrat, Republican, or Independent) and both relationship adjustment and commitment to one's partner. We used a national (U.

Male Service Members' and Civilian Wives' Perceptions of Partner Connection Regarding Deployment and PTSD Symptoms.

In general, a sense of understanding and connection is an important aspect of marital relationships. In the context of military couples in which a service member may have symptoms of PTSD, spouses' understanding of the nature and causes of service member PTSD symptoms may be protective for both partners' marital satisfaction. However, partners may vary in the degree to which they understand and connect around (1) historical experiences of combat and deployment, versus understanding and connecting around (2) any ongoing manifestation of PTSD symptoms post deployment.

Within-Couple Associations Between Communication and Relationship Satisfaction Over Time.

Relationship science contends that the quality of couples' communication predicts relationship satisfaction over time. Most studies testing these links have examined between-person associations, yet couple dynamics are also theorized at the within-person level: For a given couple, worsened communication is presumed to predict deteriorations in future relationship satisfaction. We examined within-couple associations between satisfaction and communication in three longitudinal studies.

Parent-Child Relationship Quality in the Family of Origin and Later Romantic Relationship Functioning: A Systematic Review.

A large and diverse literature has shown that parent-child relationship quality shapes development to affect later romantic relationship functioning. Guided by the developmental psychopathology framework, the current systematic review aimed to characterize the links between two major subtypes of parent-child relationship quality (parent-child attachment security and interaction quality) and several romantic relationship outcomes (i.e.

A Closer Examination of Relational Outcomes from a Pilot Study of Abbreviated, Intensive, Multi-Couple Group Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD with Military Dyads.

Cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (CBCT for PTSD) is associated with improvements in patients' PTSD symptoms, partners' psychological distress, and relationship satisfaction. However, little is known about whether CBCT for PTSD is associated with changes in other relationship domains that have theoretical and clinical relevance to the relational context of PTSD. The current study is a secondary analysis of relational outcomes from an uncontrolled, within-group trial designed to examine whether an abbreviated, intensive, multi-couple group version of CBCT for PTSD (AIM-CBCT for PTSD) delivered in a retreat during a single weekend was associated with improvements in PTSD symptoms and relationship satisfaction.