Journal of Family Psychology最新文献

Many studies have documented increases in child mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to prepandemic estimates. However, less is known about the long-term trajectories of mental health during the pandemic, and how shared (e.g., family-average parenting) and nonshared (e.g., differential parenting) environments are associated with these trajectories. The aim of the present study was to explore longitudinal patterns of parent-reported child anger, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and sleep problems during the pandemic, and to examine associations with the parenting environment. Data came from a longitudinal study that followed caregivers (n = 549) and two of their children (n = 1,098; aged 5-19 years) across seven waves between May 2020 and September 2022. Three-level multilevel models investigated the trajectories of child mental health symptoms, and the variance in outcomes attributed to between-family, within-family, and within-individual differences. Significant proportions of variance in child mental health were attributed to family differences, individual differences, and change over time. On average, child mental health improved over time, although these trajectories were nonlinear. Higher family-level positive parenting practices and lower family-level negative parenting practices were associated with lower child mental health problems for both siblings. Children who were disfavored (received more negativity/less positivity compared to their sibling) had higher levels of mental health problems. Both family-wide and individual-level factors play a role in child mental health during periods of stress, emphasizing the importance of considering parenting and mental health across layers of family organization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Complex emotions may be aroused by the enormous compassion involved in infant care, expressed in the mother's constant exposure to the infant's distress and her prodigious investment in efforts to alleviate it. The present two studies aimed to design and examine the construct validity of the Maternal Compassion Preoccupation Questionnaire to assess the multifaceted experience of the compassion inherent in infant care as reflected in the concepts of compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and self-compassion. Study 1 describes the initial development and validation of the questionnaire, and Study 2 presents further examination of its convergent and discriminant validity. Two convenience samples were recruited through social media. Participants in Study 1 consisted of 455 women aged 21-47 (M = 32.12, SD = .01) whose babies were 1-12 months old. Participants in Study 2 consisted of 453 women aged 21-47 (M = 31.34, SD = 4.34) whose babies were up to 10 months old. The final scale contains 29 items that tap the three dimensions matching the theoretical concepts on which it is based and displays good psychometric properties. In addition, compassion fatigue was positively associated with postpartum depression and negatively associated with role satisfaction and mindfulness; compassion satisfaction and self-compassion were both negatively associated with postpartum depression and positively associated with role satisfaction and mindfulness. The Maternal Compassion Preoccupation Questionnaire is a reliable and valid measure that can facilitate understanding of the complex and multifaceted experience of mothers caring for young infants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Bisexual fathers have rarely been visible within psychological research, and the perspectives of their partners have not been studied. Exploring partners' perspectives brings into focus how fathers' bisexuality is experienced on a family level, incorporating a family systems lens alongside minority stress and resilience theories. This article draws from a larger multimethod, multi-informant study of bisexual father families. It reports on how partners of bisexual fathers feel about fathers' bisexuality, including how they respond to disclosure and how they experience family life. Qualitative, semistructured interviews with 10 partners of bisexual fathers, which focused on being a parent, family roles, well-being, social experiences, and fathers' bisexual identity, were conducted. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis and reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative content analysis identified that partners' feelings varied at the time fathers disclosed their bisexuality, and the majority felt positive about this at the time of interview. Reflexive thematic analysis identified three themes in partners' experiences of family life: Family life was "privately nonnormative" and moved between being "publicly normative" and "publicly nonnormative," depending on personal and contextual factors. Findings illustrate that while disclosure of fathers' bisexuality may be initially challenging, partners tended to feel more positive over time and incorporate fathers' bisexuality into their overall sense of family identity, engaging in what can be conceptualized as family identity management. This study highlights the need to further understand the impact of a parent's queer identity on other family members' experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study evaluated two pathways that may help explain changes in parent mental health during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. One pathway, the preexisting vulnerability pathway, considered whether family relationship quality prior to the COVID-19 pandemic predicted parent mental health during the pandemic. The second, the family disruption pathway, considered deterioration in family relationship quality as predictive of declines in parent mental health during the pandemic. We measured family relationship quality in terms of family cohesion, conflict, and routines and predicted parent anxiety, depression, and hostility. All models included financial strain and child externalizing behavior as covariates. The sample included 204 parents who completed one survey prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a second survey after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, and a third survey 2 weeks after the initial survey was sent. Analyses utilized a model-building approach where separate structural equation models were calculated for each family dimension and covariate and significant findings were integrated into a single model. Results supported the preexisting vulnerabilities and disruption hypotheses. Pre-COVID-19 family conflict, financial strain, and child externalizing problems were risks for parent mental health problems. Disruption effects were evident, such that increases in family conflict and increases in financial strain each predicted worse parent mental health. Family cohesion, routines, and social support did not predict parent's mental health outcomes. (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).

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).

Coparenting relationships play an important role in shaping marital satisfaction, parenting behavior, and children's social-emotional adjustment. Coparenting relationship quality can be measured via parent self-report and direct observation. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses, providing different perspectives on coparenting relationships. However, most studies rely on one method-typically mother report-to assess coparenting quality, yielding an incomplete picture of coparenting dynamics. The present study obtained maternal reports, paternal reports, and observations of coparenting relationships in 160 dual-earner different-sex parent families (86% White, 88% married) with infants. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify patterns in coparenting relationships and their associations with child and family functioning. Four distinct coparenting relationship profiles were identified: high-convergent (42%), high-reported, moderate-observed (34%), moderate-high-reported, mother less positive, low-observed (13%), and moderate-reported, father less positive, moderate-high observed (11%). Profile membership was associated with parents' marital satisfaction, positive parental engagement, and children's social-emotional adjustment. Overall, families in the high-convergent profile had the best family and child outcomes. Even though parents in the high-reported, moderate-observed profile perceived their coparenting relationships just as positively, these families experienced greater risk for compromised family functioning and child adjustment compared to families in the high-convergent profile. Obtaining observations and fathers' reports of coparenting in addition to mothers' reports appears desirable to understand the roles of coparenting in family functioning, particularly in children's social-emotional adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for families, particularly those with young children, due to rapid shifts in routines and increased responsibilities. Corresponding increases in psychological aggression were documented. The present study examined interparental emotional intimacy and trust prior to pandemic onset as a resource facilitating successful coparenting and reducing risk for psychological aggression during the first 6 months of the pandemic in a sample of 146 couples parenting preschool-age children. Results suggest that prepandemic interparental emotional intimacy was a protective factor that promoted high quality coparenting during the first 6 months of the pandemic which, in turn, was associated with a lower probability of psychological aggression enacted toward mothers. Further, prepandemic intimacy predicted lower frequency of psychological aggression toward mothers and fathers independent of coparenting. Taken together, results point to emotional intimacy as an important interpersonal regulatory resource that supported healthy adjustment and coparenting and predicted lower risk of psychological aggression in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs designed to promote trust and closeness between partners and enhance the coparenting relationship may be important to facilitate family resilience during times of significant stress and adjustment. (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).