Journal of Family Psychology最新文献

Parents are everyday exposed to intense sensory and emotional stimuli. Hence, it is reasonable that the individual trait of Environmental Sensitivity (ES), capturing individual differences in sensitivity and responsivity to stimuli, holds important implications for parenting. Available evidence suggests that a higher sensitivity to stimuli in parents is mainly a risk factor, but studies are limited for the majority to self-report measures of parenting. Across two independent observational studies involving Italian parents, we investigated the role of ES in parenting during the first year of a child life. In Study 1 (N = 41 mothers and infants tracked from 3 to 9 months), a higher ES initially linked to slightly higher parental intrusiveness at 3 months but shifted to less intrusive behaviors by 9 months. No other ES-parenting associations emerged. In Study 2 (N = 55 mothers of children aged 3 months old), findings showed that a higher ES was associated with less attuned parenting behaviors and more parental stress only in the copresence of parental adverse childhood experiences, with a vulnerability effect. In the same sample, a higher ES was associated with more adaptive parental responses to the child, particularly when respiratory sinus arrhythmia, capturing physiological self-regulation, was higher. To conclude, ES was not related to worse parental competences, but rather it made mothers more receptive to environmental (adverse childhood experiences) and inner physiological (respiratory sinus arrhythmia) factors, for better and for worse. We discuss implications for parenting programs and new direction of studies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Although a large body of research has documented the importance of routines for children's development, the role of developmental timing of routines has received less attention. The present study examined how use of routines across the preschool period is linked to children's socioemotional adjustment. We used Year 3 and Year 5 data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,353; 48% female). Child routines were measured through maternal reports of routines, including household chores, play, mealtime, and bedtime. Latent profile analysis revealed four groups based on timing and number of routines: stable-high, increasing, decreasing, and stable-low. In Year 5, parents reported on children's attentional, externalizing, and internalizing problems and social skills. Latent transition analysis indicated that most children (n = 1,782; 75%) maintained the same profiles over time. Regression analyses showed that profiles were differentially related to outcomes. After controlling for a set of confounding variables, children in the stable-high group had significantly lower attentional, externalizing, and internalizing problems than the decrease routines group (βs range from .23 to .40, p < .05). These findings contribute to the understanding of how routines are associated with child functioning and highlight the potential importance of the continued use of routines across early childhood. Children who had consistently high routines demonstrated better adjustment compared to those whose routines decreased across the preschool period. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

As with all types of relationships, romantic relationships will involve at least occasional instances of interpersonal harm. When one partner commits a transgression against the other, how they respond next may influence whether the situation resolves or escalates. Research has identified three main response patterns to interpersonal transgressions-self-forgiveness, self-exoneration, and self-condemnation-each with potential relationship consequences that may either support or hinder the relationship. We examined these three response tendencies with romantic partners to understand their dyadic effect on relationship quality. In our sample of 216 adults in 108 heterosexual romantic relationships of at least 1 year, we found actor and partner effects for both trait self-forgiveness and trait self-exoneration. One partner's level of trait self-forgiveness positively predicted both their own and their partner's relationship quality, and the level of trait self-exoneration negatively predicted both their own and their partner's relationship quality. Self-condemnation was not a significant predictor in our model. We did not find any sex differences in our models. We discuss the implications of these findings for couples counseling and other contexts. We also discuss the potentially complicated nature of self-condemnation in relationship functioning, addressing ways it could both help and hinder some aspects of the relationship. Overall, this study highlights the potential benefits of promoting self-forgiveness and reducing self-exoneration tendencies on relationship quality for both partners in romantic relationships where one partner has transgressed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Father-Toddler Interaction Multiaxial Assessment (FTI-MAXA), designed to evaluate and rate the quality of father-toddler interaction. Two trained raters assessed 105 children aged 13-40 months (27.28 ± 6.7) and their fathers using a Likert-type scale (1 = very poor, 5 = very good) across 10 items: physical involvement, affective expressiveness, pleasure, responsiveness, reciprocity, joint attention, nonintrusiveness, adaptive flexibility, support, and acceptance. Each father and child pair was rated on three dimensions: involvement, reciprocity, and flexibility-acceptance. In addition, Brief Infant/Toddler Social Emotional Assessment Scale (BITSEA), Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), Parent-Infant Relationship Global Assessment Scale, Brief Symptom Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, and Child Attachment Pattern were applied to the fathers. The internal consistency of FTI-MAXA total scores-of both scorers-was found to be excellent (Cronbach's α was .92, .96 for fathers and .98, .98 for children). Interpersonal reliability of FTI-MAXA scores was excellent for fathers and children (p < .001). FTI-MAXA-father subscores were negatively correlated with the child's ABC-total scores and positively correlated with BITSEA-competence scores. FTI-MAXA-child subscores showed positive correlation with BITSEA-competence scores and negative correlation with ABC scores. These findings underscore the validity and reliability of the FTI-MAXA, which offers dependable global ratings of father-toddler interactions in a laboratory setting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This preregistered study examined bidirectional associations between parental psychological distress (PD) and relationship quality (RQ) from pregnancy to children's adolescence, assessing both within-individual and cross-partner effects, and testing the strength and gender differences in these associations. Previous studies have analyzed the links between parental PD and RQ, but research covering the whole range of active parenting years in both parents is limited. Moreover, prior research has primarily focused on relationship intimacy, often overlooking autonomy and the balance between the two. This longitudinal study involved 375 intact Finnish couples who answered questionnaires on PD and RQ during pregnancy, postpartum, and the child's middle childhood and late adolescence. The associations between PD and RQ were assessed with random intercept cross-lagged panel models based on both sum and balance scores of intimacy and autonomy, and individual scales. At the state level, PD was associated with higher overall RQ (i.e., a combination of intimacy and autonomy) and higher autonomy at unique parenting stages. However, PD predicted lower intimacy and less relationship enmeshment (i.e., a combination of more autonomy than intimacy) during early parenting years. PD predicted RQ more than the reverse and fathers' RQ was more strongly predicted by mothers' distress than the corresponding prediction from fathers to mothers. At the trait level, PD and RQ showed consistently negative associations. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding how PD shapes RQ over time, emphasizing the dynamic interplay between autonomy and intimacy in family relationships throughout the parenting years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study examined cross-sectional and prospective differences in mental health and family functioning among caregivers aware of their child's self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs), caregivers unaware of their child's SITBs, and caregivers of children without SITBs. Data were drawn from an epidemiological U.S. sample of children (ages 9-10) and their caregivers who participated in three yearly assessments as part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (N = 11,303, 47.6% female). Caregivers reported on their own mental health problems and SITBs, their child's SITBs, and family conflict. Children reported on their own SITBs, family conflict, parental monitoring, and parental acceptance. Compared to caregivers of children without SITBs (81%), both aware (9.9%) and unaware (9.1%) caregivers reported more externalizing problems at baseline. Their children reported more family conflict and lower parental monitoring and acceptance across assessments. Relative to unaware caregivers and caregivers of children without SITBs, aware caregivers reported elevated internalizing problems at baseline and greater odds of engaging in SITBs at baseline and follow-up. Compared to children of unaware caregivers, children of aware caregivers reported lower family conflict and higher parental monitoring and acceptance at baseline. In contrast, aware caregivers reported higher family conflict at baseline and 1 year later compared to unaware caregivers. Overall, caregivers of children with SITBs, whether aware or unaware, experienced more mental health problems and long-term effects on family functioning. Aware caregivers also reported higher SITB risk. Family-based interventions with a focus on caregivers' mental health may help reduce children's SITBs and family suffering. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The study of dyadic data has become essential to understanding family relationships. While directed dyadic data capture a person's relationship to a partner, resulting in two scores per dyad, undirected dyadic data measure something that is common to two people using a single score, for example, the distance two people stand from each other while conversing. This article introduces a modification of the family social relations model specifically developed for undirected data, a new framework to analyze undirected data for distinguishable dyad members. The model allows researchers to determine the contribution of individual-, dyadic-, and family-level components on undirected measures. We illustrate the model using data on shared family meals among dyad members in 99 two-parent two-child families. The analysis reveals that factors at all three levels of analysis determine how often two family members share a meal, but characteristics of the family as a group are most important. We also introduce an innovative approach to estimating the family factor, one that allows different dyadic scores to be affected differently by the family climate. Finally, we introduce an online app that implements the analysis of the family social relations model for undirected data, minimizing the need for confirmatory factor analysis skills. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study develops a new measure for capturing dialectics of parenting that serve as sources of intergenerational ambivalence (IGA) in the parents of adult-aged children called the Dialectics of Parenting Adult Children Scale (DPACS). The current approach was informed by previous recommendations based on the strengths and weaknesses of existing methods for capturing IGA. The DPACS asks parents about beliefs and behaviors that are in logical contradiction with each other rather than conflicting emotional experiences. Scale items were inspired by a qualitative study that explored common themes of contradiction, referred to as dialectics, for parents of adult children (Levitzki, 2009). These five dialectics were separation and connection, narcissistic extension and individuation, familial connection and generation gap, parent needs and child needs, and hierarchy and equality. Participants were parents of adult children (N = 358) in the United States recruited using Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Data were collected through online survey using Qualtrics. Confirmatory factor analysis informed item retention and removal and ambivalence scores were calculated using the retained items. The DPACS was validated against an established measure of parent-adult-child relationship quality. Patterns of participant responses were examined and suggestions for interpreting DPACS ambivalence scores are provided. Findings indicate parental experiences of IGA were common for all dialectics. The DPACS could be useful in clinical settings for identifying specific sources of parental IGA. Although this new measure requires further development, the DPACS and the dialectical approach are a valuable addition to the conceptualization and measurement of IGA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Secure infant-father and infant-mother attachments are associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in childhood. The attachment network underscores relationships with both fathers and mothers to form four distinct configurations of attachment security (e.g., both secure, both insecure). This exploratory study had three aims: (a) to confirm the four classifications of the attachment network with fathers and mothers, (b) to examine whether longitudinal trajectories of toddler behavior problems differed as a function of the attachment network from 18 to 36 months, and (c) to test whether the attachment network would predict toddler behavior problems when other family risk factors (interparental conflict, older siblings' behavior problems) were added as predictors. Participants were 184 second-born, 12-month olds (55.9% girls) who participated in the strange situation procedure with fathers and mothers and were classified into four attachment configurations: both secure, both insecure, secure-mother/insecure-father, insecure-mother/secure-father. Longitudinal linear mixed models were conducted on a subsample of 150 families with both parent reports on externalizing and internalizing behavior problems when toddlers were 18-, 24-, and 36-month old, and interparental conflict and the older siblings' behavior problems when toddlers were 12-month old. Results revealed no effects of attachment in predicting toddlers' behavior problems; only the older siblings' behavior problems predicted toddler behavior problems from 18 to 36 months. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Research on couple typologies has advanced our understanding of the communication patterns that distinguish happy from distressed partners. However, this work has suffered from a lack of conceptual and methodological cohesion and replication in large, heterogeneous samples, resulting in idiosyncratic typologies with limited generalizability beyond their initial development. The present study replicates and extends prior research by testing the external validity of previous communication typologies in a multisite sample of couples. We combined data from 13 studies that used the Rapid Marital Interaction Coding System to observe communication during mixed-gender couples' 10-min conflict interactions (N = 1,957). We used latent profile analysis to examine men's and women's (a) positive, negative, and neutral behavior and (b) positive and negative reciprocity. Groups were compared on relationship satisfaction and intimate partner violence to further characterize differences among couple subtypes. A five-class solution revealed couples whose communication can be described as (a) task-oriented (low positivity/negativity, high neutral problem discussion; 53%), (b) warm (high positivity/low negativity; 24%), (c) hostile (low positivity/high negativity; 9%), (d) expressive (high positivity/negativity; 7%), and (e) warm-but-reactive (high positivity/low negativity, high negative reciprocity; 6%). Men and women reported the highest levels of satisfaction in the warm, task-oriented, and warm-but-reactive groups. Intimate partner violence was highest in the hostile and expressive groups. These outcomes are largely concordant with the previous findings and should increase the field's confidence in the generalizability of earlier typologies. Our findings also raise new questions about the heterogeneous nature of communication among happy couples. We discuss these questions and their clinical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).