Brandon T. McDaniel

Sexting Among Married Couples: Who is Doing it and Are They More Satisfied?

This study examined the prevalence and correlates of sexting (i.e., sending sexual messages via mobile phones) within a sample of married/cohabiting couples (180 wives and 175 husbands). Married adults do sext each other, but it is much less common than within young adult relationships, and consists mainly of sexy or intimate talk (29% reported engaging in sexy talk with partners) rather than sexually explicit photos or videos (12% reported sending nude or nearly-nude photos). Sending sexy talk messages was positively related to relationship satisfaction only among those with high levels of avoidance, and sending sexually explicit pictures was related to satisfaction for men, and for women with high levels of attachment anxiety. Additionally, sending sexually explicit pictures was related to greater ambivalence among both men and women. These findings support and extend previous research with young adults.

Technology interference in the parenting of young children: Implications for mothers’ perceptions of coparenting

Abstract Technology devices and their characteristics have become more pervasive and enticing. The use of these new devices is common, and interruptions due to these devices are likely. This study examines the frequency of technology interference in (a) coparenting relationships—the relationship between parents as they parent their children together—during early infancy/childhood and in (b) various parenting domains (bedtime, mealtime, etc.), as well as (c) associations between technology interference and perceptions of coparenting quality as reported by 203 married/cohabiting mothers. Many mothers perceived that technology interrupted coparenting interactions on occasion, especially during unstructured parenting such as playtime. Mothers rating more interference reported worse coparenting, relationship satisfaction, and depressive symptoms. Technology interference predicted coparenting even after controlling for relationship satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Technology interference likely decreases coordination between parents, leaving some mothers feeling frustrated. Parents may be advised to critically examine and potentially regulate technology use during family interactions.

Division of Labor and Multiple Domains of Sexual Satisfaction Among First-Time Parents

Sexual satisfaction is an important contributor to relationship functioning that is not well understood among first-time parents, at a time when relationship functioning is important for the well-being of parents as well as the child. The current study examined how several dimensions of individual and relationship functioning among first-time parents (coparenting, division of household and paid labor, parenting stress, and role overload) at 6 months postbirth predicted multiple domains of sexual satisfaction at 12 months postbirth, in a sample of heterosexual first-time parents. Role overload, work hours, and division of household labor each predicted at least one domain of sexual satisfaction for both mothers and fathers, whereas parenting stress was a unique predictor for mothers only. The implications of these results for first-time parents are discussed.

Do you have anything to hide? Infidelity-related behaviors on social media sites and marital satisfaction

Social media provides one route to behaviors that may be potentially harmful to romantic relationships, such as communicating with alternative partners, which can sometimes create relationship conflict, breakups, or divorce. Limited empirical evidence exists concerning social media infidelity-related behaviors and marital relationships. This study examined whether married/cohabiting individuals are using social media sites to engage in online infidelity-related behaviors and to what extent this related to relationship satisfaction, ambivalence, and relational attachment characteristics as reported by 338 married/cohabiting individuals from 176 families. Only a small percentage of married/cohabiting couples reported engaging in social media infidelity-related behaviors; however, more engagement in infidelity-related behaviors on social media was significantly related to lower relationship satisfaction, higher relationship ambivalence, and greater attachment avoidance and anxiety in both women and men. Additionally, attachment anxiety and gender interacted with relationship satisfaction in predicting online infidelity-related behaviors when controlling for other variables. Implications are discussed.

Do you dare to compare? Associations between maternal social comparisons on social networking sites and parenting, mental health, and romantic relationship outcomes

Social comparisons on social networking sites can be problematic for some individuals. However, this has never been examined in a parenting context, where the pressure for mothers to portray themselves as perfect parents may be high. The aim of the current study was to examine associations between making social comparisons on social networking sites with mothers parenting, mental health, and romantic relationship outcomes. In the iMom Project, 721 mothers completed a number of questionnaires regarding their social media use, parenting behaviors, and health outcomes. Results revealed that making social comparisons on social networking sites was related to parenting outcomes (in the form of higher levels of parental role overload, and lower levels of parental competence and perceived social support), relationship outcomes (in the form of more conflict over social networking sites and perceiving less positive coparenting relationships) and higher levels of maternal depression. This study adds to a growing literature suggesting that making social comparisons online may be associated with a number of negative outcomes, and extends it to the context of mothering. This study has implications for the way that mothers use social media, specifically in the use of social comparisons. Social comparisons on social media are common.Such comparisons were associated with negative outcomes for mothers.These extended to the parenting, relationship, and mental health domains.Implications include helping mothers become critical thinkers on social media.

Volatility in daily relationship quality: The roles of attachment and gender

Previous research on attachment orientations has focused on how attachment is associated with levels of relationship quality; however, the nature of associations with variability over time (volatility) on relationship quality remains unclear. Couples who are higher in volatility have poorer relationship outcomes, thus it is important to understand factors that influence volatility. We used 7-day daily diaries with both members of 157 heterosexual couples to analyze associations between actor and partner reports of attachment anxiety and avoidance and gender in associations with both general levels of relationship quality and volatility in daily relationship quality. Overall, we found that regardless of gender, attachment avoidance was linked with decreased levels of relationship quality for both actors and partners. Gender differences in volatility of daily relationship quality emerged such that women’s attachment influenced both their own and their male partner’s volatility. Women’s attachment anxiety was positively associated with volatility for both their own and their partner’s relationship quality. Women’s attachment avoidance was also negatively associated with volatility in their partner’s relationship quality. We discuss how attachment avoidance is a greater predictor for average levels of daily relationship quality, whereas attachment anxiety drives volatility in daily feelings about the relationship. Further, conflict is an important factor to consider in these links between attachment anxiety and volatility in relationship quality; on days when individuals reported greater conflict than usual, they reported lower relationship quality, and this association was stronger for those whose partners were high in attachment anxiety. We explore implications for research and practice.

Assessing Coparenting Relationships in Daily Life: The Daily Coparenting Scale (D-Cop)

We describe the development and validation of the Daily Coparenting Scale (D-Cop), a measure of parents’ perceptions of daily coparenting quality, to address the absence of such a daily measure in the field. A daily measure of coparenting can help us to better identify specific mechanisms of short-term change in family processes as well as examine within-person variability and processes as they are lived by participants in their everyday lives. Mothers and fathers, from 174 families with at least one child age 5 or younger, completed a 14-day diary study. Utilizing multilevel factor analysis, we identified two daily coparenting factors at both the between- and within-person level: positive and negative daily coparenting. The reliabilities of the overall D-Cop and individual positive and negative subscales were good, and we found that parents’ reports of coparenting quality fluctuated on a daily basis. Also, we established the initial validity of the D-Cop, as scores related as expected to (a) an existing and already validated measure of coparenting and to (b) couple relationship quality, depressive symptoms, and child behavior problems. Further, fluctuations in daily couple relationship feelings related to fluctuations in daily coparenting quality. The D-Cop and its subscales functioned almost identically when only utilizing 7 days of data instead of 14 days. We call for future work to study day-by-day fluctuations and dynamics of coparenting to better illuminate family processes that lead to child and family outcomes in order to improve the efficacy of family interventions.

Technoference: longitudinal associations between parent technology use, parenting stress, and child behavior problems

Background and objectivesHeavy parent digital technology use has been associated with suboptimal parent–child interactions and internalizing/externalizing child behavior, but directionality of associations is unclear. This study aims to investigate longitudinal bidirectional associations between parent technology use and child behavior, and understand whether this is mediated by parenting stress.MethodsParticipants included 183 couples with a young child (age 0–5 years, mean = 3.0 years) who completed surveys at baseline, 1, 3 and 6 months. Cross-lagged structural equation models of parent technology interference during parent–child activities, parenting stress, and child externalizing and internalizing behavior were tested.ResultsControlling for potential confounders, we found that across all time points (1) greater child externalizing behavior predicted greater technology interference, via greater parenting stress; and (2) technology interference often predicted greater externalizing behavior. Although associations between child internalizing behavior and technology interference were relatively weaker, bidirectional associations were more consistent for child withdrawal behaviors.ConclusionsOur results suggest bidirectional dynamics in which (a) parents, stressed by their child’s difficult behavior, may then withdraw from parent–child interactions with technology and (b) this higher technology use during parent–child interactions may influence externalizing and withdrawal behaviors over time.

Predicting coparenting quality in daily life in mothers and fathers.

The purpose of the current study was to examine contextual (daily relationship quality, daily stressors, daily work hours), parent (daily negative emotions, gender), and child factors (daily child-induced parenting stress) as predictors of mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of daily coparenting quality. Mothers and fathers from 174 families completed a 14-day diary study. Utilizing multilevel modeling, our results suggest that daily coparenting is multidetermined. Indeed, daily fluctuations in coparenting were predicted by similar daily fluctuations in couple relationship quality, parent negative mood, parenting stress, and father work hours. Moreover, as daily risk factors accumulated the quality of daily coparenting deteriorated further, suggesting that a buildup of stressors and daily difficulties may be particularly detrimental to parents’ abilities to cooperate with one another and coordinate their parenting together on a daily basis. Overall, our results suggest that there are many avenues through which we can intervene in the family system to improve the quality of daily coparenting.