Journal of Family Psychology最新文献

Within a relationship, stress might be shared and co-regulated between the partners at the physiological level, through cortisol linkage. Cortisol is sensitive to social inputs, and cortisol linkage may reflect stress-related dynamics in a couple or positive relational processes, such as marital distress or shared moments. For many couples, the transition to parenthood is accompanied by acute or chronic stressors that can impact the relationship. Concurrently, having a supportive and responsive partner becomes an important resource to adapt to the manifold changes. These relational processes may also play a role with respect to cortisol linkage. The current article reports a study that examined changes of cortisol linkage across the transition to parenthood, and whether high levels of psychological stress and perceived partner responsiveness were associated with stronger cortisol linkage. We used data from a longitudinal study of 120 couples (N = 240) who transitioned to parenthood. Participants collected saliva samples and completed an ecological momentary assessment over three consecutive days, during pregnancy, at 6 months and at 18 months postpartum. Cortisol linkage among partners was significant and positive, increased in strength from pregnancy to 6 months postpartum, and remained stable from 6 months to 18 months postpartum. Within-couples, higher levels of psychological stress were associated with a stronger linkage between partners, while higher perceived partner responsiveness was associated with a weaker cortisol linkage. These findings provide further evidence of cortisol linkage during the transition to parenthood, and its associations with positive and negative relational processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

While research on parental burnout has expanded dramatically in recent years, a critical gap remains in understanding the interplay between this condition and child-related variables. This study aimed to investigate the bidirectional and transactional dynamics between parental burnout and the child's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. A longitudinal design with three data collection waves, spaced 4 months apart, was employed. The sample comprised 1,458 parents (French and English speaking) who completed online surveys, including a measure of the child's behavior, assessed by both parents and another informant. Structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze bidirectional and recursive relationships. The cross-lagged panel model results, further informed by path comparison analyses, identified significant bidirectional and transactional effects equally driven by parent and child, suggesting a cyclical relationship between parental burnout and child behavior. These findings highlight the reciprocal nature of these dynamics, challenging the traditional view of unilateral influence. This study provides valuable insights into the dynamic interplay between parental burnout and child behavior, thereby making an important contribution to developmental psychopathology. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Individual differences in environmental sensitivity (ES) moderate the effect of family environment on children's adjustment. Research on ES in early childhood is limited and mostly relies on mother reports. This preregistered study investigated the association between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of their child's ES and its moderating role in the relation between parenting and child behavioral problems among 271 mother-father dyads with a preschooler. Results showed a strong correlation (r = .75) between fathers' and mothers' reports of child ES. Alongside satisfactory parameters from the multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, these findings suggest that the scale effectively captures individual differences in child ES across informants, providing the first empirical evidence for its use with fathers. A single-parent perspective might also be reliable, depending on research needs and available resources. Pertaining the moderating role of combined child ES, findings suggest that the child ES significantly interacted with maternal acceptance on internalizing symptoms reported by both parents, with highly sensitive children exhibiting more internalizing symptoms under low maternal (but not paternal) warm and loving behaviors. When combining fathers and mothers' acceptance, a similar trend was found. Finding suggests that while the inclusion of fathers parenting-related variables did not provide significant information beyond the mothers' report, integrating mothers and fathers' perspectives on child's characteristics may offer a more comprehensive understanding than relying on informant-specific variables. Potential challenges in combining reports, due to differences in missing responses between mothers and fathers, are also discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

In the United States, the lives of millions of children with undocumented parents are overshadowed by the threat of family separation. This qualitative study investigates how parents who have proactively engaged in family deportation planning, such as choosing a standby guardian, communicate these decisions to their children. It draws on in-depth interviews with 27 undocumented parents with at least one U.S. citizen child under 18. Findings reveal that parents' discussions are influenced by the children's age, their experiences with immigration enforcement, and their immigration status. Younger children typically remain unaware of these issues, whereas older children, especially those exposed to enforcement, have a greater understanding. Parents often struggled with the decision to disclose information, balancing the desire to protect their children emotionally with the need to prepare them for potential separations. The study highlights parents' efforts to decriminalize their undocumented status, often using heritage stories and future aspirations to frame their situation positively. Parents also simplified guardianship concepts by introducing the guardian as a trusted figure to reassure their children. These strategies align with professional recommendations for immigration socialization, emphasizing developmentally appropriate discussions about immigration status and family plans. The results underscore the need for tailored support services for undocumented families to help them navigate these complex conversations and prepare for potential disruptions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Activation parenting (AP) emphasizes encouraging children to face challenging and potentially novel situations in ways that may promote self-regulation (SR) and engagement (i.e., curiosity and persistence). Although AP was initially theorized to be unique to fathers, new research and updated conceptualizations include mothers. Conscious use of AP in response to child distress also remains untested. This study adapted the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale to assess maternal and paternal AP and their concurrent relations with child SR and engagement. The sample included 678 caregivers of 2- to 5-year-old children (n = 66 fathers and n = 612 mothers). Four items from the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale were selected a priori based on alignment with AP to create a composite score. Path analysis was used to assess concurrent relations between AP strategies and caregiver-reported child SR and engagement. Supportive parenting strategies that encourage coping through external support (e.g., soothing) or in situations that do not include parental challenges to the child (e.g., an accident) were included as covariates. Additional covariates included child sex, child age, and caregiver employment. AP strategies were positively associated with child SR and engagement. Strengths of relations between parenting strategies and child behavior did not significantly differ for AP and other supportive parenting responses. Caregiver gender did not moderate relations. Though limited by a reliance on cross-sectional, parent-report data, this study adds to a growing body of literature on the importance of AP as a general parenting construct that may be leveraged to support SR development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Mothers with depression often experience guilt related to parenting. Studies on the relation between parenting guilt and depression have been primarily cross-sectional; consequently, it is unclear whether heightened parenting guilt is a correlate, predictor, or consequence of depressive symptoms. This brief report examines longitudinal and reciprocal relations between maternal guilt and depressive symptoms over a 9-month period using methods that disentangle between- and within-person variability. Evidence that within-person changes in maternal guilt predict subsequent changes in depression symptoms, or evidence of reciprocal within-person effects, would provide more stringent evidence for the utility of addressing maternal guilt in treatment of depression among mothers. At three time points over 9 months, 225 U.S. mothers with a previous mood disorder reported on depression symptoms and parenting guilt. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was used to differentiate between-person and within-person effects. Maternal guilt and depressive symptoms were significantly related at the between-person level, with moderate concurrent correlations. Significant within-person, cross-lagged effects were found from maternal guilt to later depression, but not from depression to maternal guilt. In other words, increases or decreases in parenting guilt from a mother's "norm" predicted a subsequent, corresponding change in the severity of her depressive symptoms. These findings establish temporal precedence at the within-person level, highlighting that maternal guilt may be one potentially amenable mechanism influencing the course of depressive symptoms in mothers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

An increasing number of children grow up in joint physical custody (JPC), prompting interest in how this arrangement affects their development. Particularly, questions about the impact of JPC on early attachment development have placed young children at the forefront of scholarly attention. Yet, no systematic synthesis of research has examined attachment development in young children living in JPC, nor is there a comprehensive examination of how this research has been conducted. Thus, the present scoping review identifies and systematically compiles all available research on attachment of young children in JPC. Despite frequent references to attachment theory in the literature on JPC, only 10 studies explicitly grounded in attachment theory were found, revealing a much thinner evidence base than often assumed. These studies vary widely in forms of JPC, sample characteristics, and methodologies, and their findings are inconsistent. This heterogeneity likely reflects both societal changes over the past 3 decades, of relevance for JPC, and a diversity in how attachment theory is interpreted and applied. Theoretical differences have in turn shaped study designs, methodologies, and conclusions, ultimately influencing how attachment in young children in JPC is conceptualized and assessed. Furthermore, most research emphasizes behavioral outcomes rather than children's inner experiences, limiting our understanding of attachment processes. The review highlights these challenges and proposes directions for more coherent and theory-informed future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Research suggests that cultural stress positively predicts depressive symptoms among Hispanic immigrants through compromised family functioning. However, little research has examined whether the indirect effects of parents' and adolescents' cultural stress on their own depressive symptoms-via their perceptions of parent-adolescent communication-are moderated by the level of cultural stress experienced by the other family member. The present study was designed to examine (a) mediated effects and (b) moderated mediation effects of cultural stress on depressive symptoms for both parents and adolescents through parent-adolescent communication. A longitudinal structural equation model was estimated using data from 302 recent immigrant Hispanic families in Miami (n = 152) and Los Angeles (n = 150). Parents' and adolescents' cultural stress positively predicted their depressive symptoms through their own reports of impaired parent-adolescent communication. Additionally, we found significant moderated mediated effects of cultural stress on depressive symptoms for both parents and adolescents through their respective reports of impaired parent-adolescent communication. Specifically, the mediated effects of one family member's cultural stress on their depressive symptoms via parent-adolescent communication were significant only when the other family member's cultural stress was relatively low. These findings suggest that Hispanic immigrant families where parents' and adolescents' cultural stress levels do not align are vulnerable to poor parent-adolescent communication and subsequent depressive symptoms. Family interventions should be designed to build a standardized family position on experiences of cultural stress in a new context, aiming to reduce gaps in cultural stress and mitigate mental health disparities faced by vulnerable Hispanic families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Parental burnout arises from persistent and severe parenting stress and is mainly characterized by profound exhaustion in the parental role. Whereas much of the research on this condition relies on questionnaires, developmental studies advocate for the use of spontaneous speech samples to capture naturalistic parenting experiences. The coded "expressed emotion" (EE) within these speech samples has proven to be a valid indicator of the emotional climate of the parent-child relationship and meaningfully maps onto measures of parental well-being. This study used EE as a lens to examine parental burnout by first comparing EE between parents applying for parental burnout treatment and a control group and, second, by exploring associations between parents' EE and their parental burnout scores. A total of 106 Belgian parents (94.3% mothers, mostly aged 30-39 years), including 55 parents applying for parental burnout treatment and 51 parents in a control group, completed the Parental Burnout Assessment and were prompted to talk for 5 min about how they feel as a parent. These speech samples were coded based on EE, with coders being blind to participants' parental burnout scores and group memberships. Most parents applying for treatment (90.9%) showed high EE and demonstrated more criticism, higher emotional overinvolvement, and lower warmth compared to the control group, with substantial effect sizes. Criticism showed the strongest association with parents' parental burnout scores. This study highlights the promising benefits of listening to naturally provided cues in parents' spontaneous speech about parenthood, thereby pointing toward crucial pathways for the detection of parental burnout. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Evidence supports the positive impact of MotherWise, an individual-oriented relationship education program delivered to perinatal women and birthing people from underresourced communities, on relationship skills, attitudes, and individual and relationship functioning. This study examined whether individuals' sociodemographic disadvantage was associated with (a) preprogram levels and (b) differential program effects. Participants (M_age = 28 years) were randomly assigned to MotherWise (n = 512) or a control group (n = 437). Most participants identified as Hispanic (66%), had accessed government benefits recently (73%), and were partnered (85%). Sociodemographic factors (i.e., age, education, public assistance use, employment status, having children from previous relationships, and history of incarceration) were examined individually and as a cumulative index. Relationship skills (i.e., romantic relationship and conflict management skills), attitudes (i.e., disapproval of relationship violence), negative communication, and depressive symptoms were assessed at enrollment and 1 year and 2.5 years postenrollment. Multilevel models were conducted. MotherWise demonstrated positive long-term effects on relationship skills and attitudes, with no effects on negative communication or depression at these time points. Overall, there was no evidence of differential program effects across individual or cumulative sociodemographic risks. However, greater cumulative risk and some risks measured individually-especially incarceration history-were associated with lower baseline scores for skills and attitudes and higher baseline scores for negative communication and depression, suggesting greater needs among these individuals. Although MotherWise led to better outcomes for participants with varying risk factors, additional modifications or adaptations may be necessary to achieve equitable outcomes, ensuring all participants reach similar postprogram levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).