The purpose of the current study was to explore how much mutual enjoyment was observed when couples communicated across multiple types of discussions and how it predicted older spouses' concurrent and future marital satisfaction. Using a sample of happily married, older couples followed over a year (NT1 = 64 couples, NT2 = 55 couples), the current study used both self‐reports and observations of couples interacting in three different conversational tasks (marital reminiscence task, problem‐solving task, and a health support task) to capture mutual enjoyment. A series of Actor‐Partner Interdependence Models revealed that when couples were observed mutually enjoying the conversation more, both spouses reported being more maritally satisfied concurrently. The associations between enjoyment and later satisfaction, however, appeared dependent on both the partner's gender and the topic of the conversation.

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in relationship quality and couple conflict in low-income parents. Background: When welcoming a new child, couples often report increased conflict and a decline in relationship quality. However, some scholars maintain couples can transition to parenthood with few negative effects. Low-income, unmarried, and experienced parents remain understudied. Method: Utilizing data from a broader parent education project, the study employed dyadic latent growth curve analysis to examine changes over time in relationship quality and conflict. Participants were 216 low-income couples receiving home visitation services who reported on relationship quality and conflict at three time points. Differences between first-time and multiparous parents and among married, cohabiting, and non-residential opposite-sex couples were examined. Results: Trajectories of relationship quality and conflict were stable over time. Compared to married and cohabiting couples, non-residential couples reported lower initial relationship quality. When comparing cohabiting and non-residential couples, couples with higher expectations of marriage had higher initial relationship quality and lower initial conflict. Conclusion: Some couples navigate the transition to parenthood without negative relationship effects, especially those with higher initial quality, lower initial conflict, and greater expectations of marriage. Implications Policy and practice supporting relationship stability in low-income couples should incorporate a strengths-based approach.

Extant research highlights the importance of early paternal engagement for children and families. Thus, there is strong support for the exploration of predictors of low-income father engagement. Informed by Belsky’s process model of parenting, this study explores contextual determinants of father–infant engagement (i.e., verbal engagement, physical play, and caregiving) including the unique contributions of the child, the father, and the broader social context. We utilized survey data from a sample of 183 non-residential, cohabitating, and married low-income fathers of infants participating in a home-visiting intervention. Results demonstrated that infant age was associated with increased caregiving and verbal engagement, fathers’ total work hours were negatively correlated with verbal engagement, fathers’ depressive symptoms were linked to increased physical play, and the quality of the coparenting alliance was related to physical play and caregiving. Findings may inform programs designed to promote paternal engagement during infancy.

Economically marginalized families may face enduring vulnerabilities that make adaptive relational processes leading to healthy, long-term relationships more difficult. Informed by the vulnerability-stress-adaptation framework, we utilized an actor-partner interdependence model and dyadic data from a sample of 199 low-income couples who were expecting or had recently given birth to investigate the association of two adaptive processes (couple conflict and coparenting alliance) and two personal resources (instrumental and emotional support) with their relationship quality. Results indicated significant actor effects of men’s and women’s coparenting alliance and men’s instrumental support on their own reports of relationship quality. Additionally, results indicated three significant conjoint actor-partner effects—couple conflict and couple emotional support on women’s relationship quality and couple conflict on men’s relationship quality. These findings contribute to the literature on the transition to parenthood and extend the literature examining dyadic relational processes in families from low-income and economically marginalized backgrounds.

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