No abstract

Drawing from a relational developmental systems (RDS) perspective (Lerner, Agans, DeSouza, & Gasca, 2013) and data from 1,427 continuously partnered young adult and midlife mixed-sex couples over the first 5 years of the German Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam), this study examined the developmental course of supportive dyadic coping, or the frequency with which one provides practical and emotional support when his or her partner encounters stress. Latent change score (LCS) modeling results revealed that supportive dyadic coping gradually declined for both male and female partners, but there was significant diversity underlying these trajectories. Higher levels of supportive dyadic coping were associated with a more gradual decline in support provided by a partner. Among young adults, a more rapid decline in male partner supportive dyadic coping predicted a slower rate of decline in support from female partners. Finally, we considered possible bidirectional relations between contextual stressors and supportive dyadic coping trajectories. Providing higher levels of support predicted a more gradual decline in self-rated health for male partners. Having more children and experiencing economic pressure predicted steeper declines in supportive dyadic coping over time for both male and female partners. (PsycINFO Database Record

Young people attempting to access mental health services in the United Kingdom often find traditional models of care outdated, rigid, inaccessible and unappealing. Policy recommendations, research and service user opinion suggest that reform is needed to reflect the changing needs of young people. There is significant motivation in the United Kingdom to transform mental health services for young people, and this paper aims to describe the rationale, development and implementation of a novel youth mental health service in the United Kingdom, the Norfolk Youth Service. The Norfolk Youth Service model is described as a service model case study. The service rationale, national and local drivers, principles, aims, model, research priorities and future directions are reported. The Norfolk Youth Service is an innovative example of mental health transformation in the United Kingdom, comprising a pragmatic, assertive and "youth-friendly" service for young people aged 14 to 25 that transcends traditional service boundaries. The service was developed in collaboration with young people and partnership agencies and is based on an engaging and inclusive ethos. The service is a social-recovery oriented, evidence-based and aims to satisfy recent policy guidance. The redesign and transformation of youth mental health services in the United Kingdom is long overdue. The Norfolk Youth Service represents an example of reform that aims to meet the developmental and transitional needs of young people at the same time as remaining youth-oriented.

Trajectories of perceived support from family, friends, and lovers were examined in 923 high school seniors surveyed across the transition to adulthood (ages 18, 19, 20, 22, and 25). Growth models revealed a cubic pattern of support from family members, which peaked at age 20, no change in friend support, and a linear decrease in lover support. Women reported higher levels of support than did men for all sources except fathers. Over time, friend and lover support decreased for women but increased for men. Both mother and father support were higher among young people who had left home, and cohabitation/marriage was associated with lower friend support and higher lover support. Support in close social relationships in the early 20s is dynamic; personal characteristics (e.g., gender) and life course transitions such as leaving home and marriage contribute to changing levels of perceived support.

Using 5 waves of longitudinal survey data gathered from 3,405 couples, the present study investigates the temporal associations between self-reported couple conflict (frequency and each partner's constructive and withdrawing behaviors) and relationship perceptions (satisfaction and perceived instability). Autoregressive cross-lagged model results revealed couple conflict consistently predicted future relationship perceptions: More frequent conflict and withdrawing behaviors and fewer constructive behaviors foretold reduced satisfaction and conflict frequency and withdrawal heightened perceived instability. Relationship perceptions also shaped future conflict, but in surprising ways: Perceptions of instability were linked with less frequent conflict, and male partner instability predicted fewer withdrawing behaviors for female partners. Higher satisfaction from male partners also predicted more frequent and less constructive conflict behavior in the future. These findings illustrate complex bidirectional linkages between relationship perceptions and couple conflict behaviors in the development of couple relations. (PsycINFO Database Record

Guided by concepts from a relational developmental perspective, this study examined intra- and interpersonal associations between self-esteem and depressive symptoms in a sample of 1,407 couples surveyed annually across 6 years in the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relations and Family Dynamics (pairfam) study. Autoregressive cross-lagged model results demonstrated that self-esteem predicted future depressive symptoms for male partners at all times, replicating the vulnerability model for men (low self-esteem is a risk factor for future depression). Additionally, a cross-partner association emerged between symptoms of depression: Higher depressive symptoms in one partner were associated with higher levels of depression in the other partner one year later. Finally, supportive dyadic coping, the support that partners reported providing to one another in times of stress, was tested as a potential interpersonal mediator of pathways between self-esteem and depression. Female partners' higher initial levels of self-esteem predicted male partners' subsequent reports of increased supportive dyadic coping, which, in turn, predicted higher self-esteem and fewer symptoms of depression among female partners in the future. Male partners' initially higher symptoms of depression predicted less frequent supportive dyadic coping subsequently reported by female partners, which was associated with increased feelings of depression in the future. Couple relations represent an important contextual factor that may be implicated in the developmental pathways connecting self-esteem and symptoms of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record

Drawing from interdependence theory and focal participants (anchors) and their intimate partners who remained coupled at Waves 1, 3, and 5 of the German Family Panel (pairfam; N = 1,543), the authors examined the temporal ordering between anchor and partner supportive dyadic coping with anchor commitment and willingness to sacrifice for an intimate partner. Autoregressive cross‐lagged modeling analyses revealed that anchor and partner supportive dyadic coping predicted higher levels of commitment and willingness to sacrifice, and willingness to sacrifice predicted less supportive dyadic coping only for anchors. There were no longitudinal associations between commitment and willingness to sacrifice, and gender did not moderate associations among the variables.

Drawing on relational developmental systems and gender relations perspectives, this study analyzed data from 1,932 heterosexual couples from Waves 1 and 2 of the German Family Panel to answer three questions: (1) What are the longitudinal associations between male and female partners’ emotion work provision and relationship satisfaction? (2) Are there gender differences in associations between emotion work and relationship satisfaction? (3) Does autonomy moderate associations among these focal variables? An actor–partner interdependence model revealed emotion work was linked to heightened future relationship satisfaction, and female partners’ emotion work was the strongest predictor of both partners’ relationship satisfaction. Latent variable interactions demonstrated male partners’ emotion work was linked to female partners’ heightened relationship satisfaction only when men also reported high levels of autonomy. Emotion work may be a “labor of love” that builds future relationship satisfaction while under the differential “management” of autonomous self-representation and gender norms of affective care.