Suchergebnisse

The division of household labor among couples is a frequently occurring topic of conflict. The present investigation examined longitudinal associations between inequities in household labor divisions and conflict about those divisions in 219 newly married heterosexual couples without children enrolled in the Louisiana Marriage Matters Panel Survey of Newlyweds. We used autoregressive latent trajectory models across three time points spanning approximately 3.5 years. More conflict about labor inequity was related to declines in household labor inequity by the next wave. Additionally, greater household labor inequity was related to declines in conflict by the next wave. We discuss findings in terms of the demand-response hypothesis and ideological reasons why higher labor inequities may relate to less conflict.

AbstractObjectiveThis study examined the effects of mothers' and fathers' emotional dysregulation and their responses to their children's distress, as well as the moderating role of child negative reactivity.BackgroundParents with better emotion regulation strategies tend to provide more supportive and less nonsupportive responses to their children's distress. Child temperamental negative reactivity may create emotionally challenging parenting situations and thus may moderate this relation. However, dyadic effects are less clear; family systems theory suggests parents' dysregulation may crossover to degrade their partners' responses, or parents may compensate for their partners' dysregulation with more constructive responses.MethodParents from 119 families with a 3‐ to 5‐year‐old child (50.4% boys) reported on their emotional dysregulation, responses to child negative emotions, and child negative affectivity. Path models tested actor and partner main effects and interaction effects.ResultsThere were two partner main effects, such that when fathers were more dysregulated, mothers reported providing more supportive and fewer nonsupportive responses to their children. Additionally, two interaction effects were found. Maternal dysregulation was related to increased maternal nonsupport only when child negative affectivity was low. Maternal dysregulation was also related to greater maternal support only when child negative affectivity was high.ConclusionOur findings demonstrate the importance of parent gender roles and compensatory processes.ImplicationsThese results provide enhanced understanding of coparenting dynamics and the combined impact of mother, father, and child negativity, which can be used by practitioners.