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Couple-focused interventions have shown limited success at preventing relationship satisfaction decline in couples during transition to parenthood. More knowledge on what constitutes relationship risk may inform future practice. This study investigated the role of underexplored individual and contextual risk factors through interactive and additive models. Participating couples (N = 228) completed questionnaires during pregnancy and at 6 and 30 months postpartum. The authors used bootstrapped Bayesian information criterion analyses to select significant and reliable predictors of change in relationship satisfaction within three predefined sets of factors representing components of the vulnerability-stress-adaptation model. Anxiety and depression symptoms during pregnancy, shorter length of the relationship, and lower levels of constructive communication predicted declines in relationship satisfaction

The results support the assumption that parenthood is a complicated period for first-time mothers characterised by low confidence, symptoms of depression and high stress which improve over time for the majority of mothers. The KPCS at 2 months postpartum was the strongest predictor of the measures used. Further research is needed to identify parents who are struggling, especially for health professionals' whose role is to support parents in their parenthood the first period after birth.

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Couples receiving 2 annual checkups across 54 weeks experienced small to medium effects on relationship health when compared to controls. These are the first and preliminary results on a model for conducting regular relationship health checkups in a real-world therapeutic setting. Future studies are needed to investigate the comparative and long-term effects of this approach. (PsycINFO Database Record