Two-hundred and eighteen low-income, minority, adolescent mothers were interviewed during the perinatal period and 3 years later about their social networks, including their relationships with their children's fathers. Few adolescents were involved with fathers at both time points. Relationships with fathers were, in general, less supportive and less problematic over time. Moreover, although father support was not associated with adolescent mothers' psychological adjustment, father absence and father strain had negative associations with psychological adjustment. Maternal grandmother support buffered the negative effects of strain in the adolescents' relationships with biological fathers. Perceptions of less social support from maternal grandmothers and more social support from fathers during the perinatal period as well as less social support from a new male partner at 3 years postpartum predicted relationship continuity between adolescent mothers and fathers at 3 years postpartum. Implications for intervention and policy are discussed.

No abstract

Thirty-one couples participated in a pilot, motivational interviewing, intervention for at-risk couples called the Marriage Checkup (MC). The MC consisted of thorough relationship assessment and individualized feedback. It attracted substantial numbers of at-risk couples who were not otherwise seeking treatment. Partners' marital satisfaction improved significantly from pre- to post-check-up and remained improved at 1-month follow up. Partners were no longer significantly different from a non-distressed comparison group following intervention. Although not addressing the efficacy of the MC, this study supports its viability as an indicated preventive intervention with couples at-risk for severe marital distress by addressing its attractiveness, tolerability, and safety.

Open communication regarding cultural and religious differences and similarities, partner support for culture and religion, and relationship distress were examined at baseline and one-year follow-up in 353 late adolescent and young adult college-students involved in romantic relationships. For intercultural relationships, at baseline, higher levels of open communication about culture were associated with lower levels of relationship distress. Longitudinally, open communication about culture was positively associated with satisfaction, but not with commitment or break-up. For interfaith unions, at baseline, higher levels of open communication about religion were associated with lower levels of relationship distress. Although involvement in an intercultural union predicted break-up at follow-up, involvement in an interfaith union did not predict break-up.

The results of this study suggest that the SSNQ may be a useful tool in assessing both positive and negative aspects of pregnant and parenting adolescent mothers' social support networks.