Guided by evolutionary-developmental models, this study tested the hypothesis that children's exposure to parental relationship instability, defined by initiation and dissolution of caregiver intimate relationships, has both costs in cognitive impairments and benefits in enhanced learning skills. Participants included 243 mothers and their…

Background: Parental school involvement is associated with social, psychological, and academic child outcomes. Beyond school, demographic, and individual influences, research on the relationship between family level processes and parental school involvement is limited. Coparenting is a unique family level relationship that influences parental…

The present study examines the influence of economic and family stress processes on change in drug and alcohol use in a cohort of 478 Mexican American youth (50.8% female) followed longitudinally beginning in Grade 5 when the youth averaged 10.4 years of age. Adolescents, their mothers (median age 36 at Grade 5), and their fathers (median age 39…

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are at risk for having higher stress and lower marital quality than other parents. Survey data regarding respite care, marital quality, and daily hassles and uplifts were obtained from 101 mother-father dyads who were together raising at least one child with ASD (total # of children = 118).…

Background: Previous studies have linked marital conflict, parenting, and externalizing problems in early childhood. However, these studies have not examined whether genes account for these links nor have they examined whether contextual factors such as parental personality or financial distress might account for links between marital conflict and…

This study examined the longitudinal association between marital instability and child sleep problems at ages 9 and 18 months in 357 families with a genetically unrelated infant adopted at birth. This design eliminates shared genes as an explanation for similarities between parent and child. Structural equation modeling indicated that T1 marital…

We evaluated maternal gatekeeping attitudes as a mediator of the relation between marital problems and father-child relationships in 3 waves when children were in Grades 7-10. We assessed each parent's contribution to the marital problems experienced by the couple. Findings from mediational and cross-lagged structural equation models revealed that…

The present investigation examined the relations between the cultural belief of familism and various aspects of family functioning and child adjustment, including interparental conflict, parenting, and children's attachment to school, in a sample of 549 two-parent Mexican-origin families. The results indicated that parents' familistic values were…

This study examined associations among marital quality, coparenting, and parenting self-efficacy in parents of young children. Of special interest were possible spillover and stress-buffering effects of the marital and coparenting relationships. The authors sampled 175 married and cohabiting couples. Participants were recruited via an online…

This study examined whether children’s difficulties with stage-salient tasks served as an explanatory mechanism in the pathway between their insecurity in the interparental relationship and their disruptive behavior problems. Using a multimethod, multi-informant design, 201 two-year-old children and their mothers participated in 3 annual…

The present study investigated associations between maternal relationship instability patterns and children's behavioral and emotional functioning in middle childhood in a representative sample of low-income urban families (N = 891). Data from the "Three-City Study" tracked maternal partnerships through the child's life, assessing total marital…

This article replicated and extended Harriet Presser's (2000) investigation of the linkages between nonstandard work and marital instability. We reexplored this question using data from a sample of 2,893 newlywed couples from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and using different analytic techniques. In contrast to Presser, we found…

Using a risk and resiliency theoretical framework, the association between interparental conflict and academic achievement was examined. The sample consisted of 2,297 6th grade youth with a mean age of 11.92. Participants were mostly European American (81.8%) and 52% were girls. Results demonstrated that interparental conflict is a risk factor for…

Much research has argued for the existence of a marriage benefit to men, women, and children. Although the commonly suggested current response to a husband's violence has been for the couple to separate, traditionally women were often told to "stay for the children." This paper uses the Project on Human Development in Chicago…

This study examines whether levels of father engagement (e.g., verbal stimulation, caregiving, and physical play) vary by race/ethnicity using a model that controls for fathers' human capital, mental health, and family relationships. It also tests whether the models work similarly across race/ethnic groups. Its sample of N = 5089 infants and their…