Rebecca J. Cobb

Prenatal Expectations and Marital Satisfaction Over the Transition to Parenthood

Associations among prenatal expectations, the extent to which expectations were confirmed or disconfirmed, and trajectories of marital satisfaction over the transition to parenthood were assessed 7-11 times in a sample of newlywed couples. Piecewise growth curve analyses were conducted to examine levels of marital satisfaction at the beginning of marriage and rates of change over 2 periods: from the beginning of marriage through the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy through 18 months postpartum. Postpartum marital decline was greater than decline from marriage through pregnancy. Spouses who were more satisfied at the beginning of marriage reported higher expectations. There was marked variability in the extent to which prenatal expectations were confirmed; some expectations were unfulfilled, others were met, and still others were surpassed. Associations between the extent to which expectations were confirmed and rates of change in marital decline differed as a function of the specific type of expectation. Implications for understanding vulnerability and resiliency in couples negotiating the transition to parenthood are discussed.

Attachment Security and Marital Satisfaction: The Role of Positive Perceptions and Social Support

The authors examined how positive perceptions about partners’ attachment security predicted supportive behavior and satisfaction in newlywed marriage. The authors tested a mediation model in which positive perceptions were associated with adaptive support behavior, which in turn predicted increases in marital satisfaction. The self-report measures of attachment security, perceptions of partner’s attachment security, and marital satisfaction within 6 months of marriage and again 1 year later were completed by 172 couples. Social support behavior was assessed by videotaped interactions at the initial session. Structural equation models indicated that positive perceptions served a relationship-enhancing function that was enacted, in part, through couples’ supportive interactions.

Is skills training necessary for the primary prevention of marital distress and dissolution? A 3-year experimental study of three interventions.

OBJECTIVE Evidence in support of skill-based programs for preventing marital discord and dissolution, while promising, comes mainly from studies using single treatment conditions, passive assessment-only control conditions, and short-term follow-up assessments of relationship outcomes. This study overcomes these limitations and further evaluates the efficacy of skill-based programs. METHOD Engaged and newlywed couples (N = 174) were randomly assigned to a 4-session, 15-hr small-group intervention designed to teach them skills in managing conflict and problem resolution (PREP) or skills in acceptance, support, and empathy (CARE). These couples were compared to each other, to couples receiving a 1-session relationship awareness (RA) intervention with no skill training, and to couples receiving no treatment on 3-year rates of dissolution and 3-year trajectories of self-reported relationship functioning. RESULTS Couples in the no-treatment condition dissolved their relationships at a higher rate (24%) than couples completing PREP, CARE, and RA, who did not differ on rates of dissolution (11%). PREP and CARE yielded unintended effects on 3-year changes in reported relationship behaviors. For example, wives receiving PREP showed slower declines in hostile conflict than wives receiving CARE, and husbands and wives receiving CARE showed faster declines in positive behaviors than husbands and wives receiving PREP. CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight the potential value of cost-effective interventions such as RA, cast doubt on the unique benefits of skill-based interventions for primary prevention of relationship dysfunction, and raise the possibility that skill-based interventions may inadvertently sensitize couples to skill deficits in their relationships.

Predicting Change in Self-Reported and Interviewer-Assessed Adult Attachment: Tests of the Individual Difference and Life Stress Models of Attachment Change

The study tested the key assumption of the individual difference model of adult attachment change: that people who have experienced certain vulnerability factors will be prone to change attachment styles because they have developed unclear models of self and others that render their attachment models unstable. This model was compared to a life stress model, which states that change occurs as an adaptation to new, interpersonally relevant life circumstances. Changes in self-reported and interviewer-assessed attachment were examined among 94 young adults who were followed over 1 year. Analyses yielded support for the individual difference model for change in both self-reported and interviewer-assessed attachment. The life stress model was supported for change in interviewer-assessed attachment only. Implications for differential change processes for self-reported versus interviewer-assessed aspects of adult attachment are discussed.

Adult Attachment Patterns and Social Support Processes

In this chapter, we explore the links between individual differences in adult attachment and social support processes. First, we review attachment theory and research, and the theoretical and empirical links between attachment and social support in adulthood. We then present a model of the processes through which attachment may impact upon various aspects of social support. Drawing on this model, we describe how we expect each of four distinct attachment patterns to be associated with social support processes, incorporating case studies to illustrate our hypotheses. Finally, we discuss the limitations of our model.

Need fulfillment in polyamorous relationships.

Polyamory is characterized by simultaneous consensual romantic relationships with multiple partners. Polyamory allows individuals to fulfill their relationship needs with multiple romantic partners, yet researchers have not identified how having needs met in one romantic relationship may be related to relationship outcomes in a concurrent relationship. Polyamorous individuals (N=1,093) completed online measures of need fulfillment, relationship satisfaction, and commitment for two concurrent romantic relationships. Participants reported high levels of need fulfillment and satisfaction in both relationships. Need fulfillment with one partner negatively predicted approximately 1% of the variance in relationship satisfaction with the other partner; however, there was no association between need fulfillment with one partner and commitment to the other. Generally, the findings suggest that polyamorous relationships are relatively independent of one another. This study provides initial evidence that polyamory may be a viable and fulfilling alternative way of conducting intimate relationships.

Recruitment and Selection of Couples for Intervention Research: Achieving Developmental Homogeneity at the Cost of Demographic Diversity.

Demographic and relationship quality data were collected from 704 individuals recruited to participate in a randomized study of relationship enhancing interventions. Recruiting at bridal shows produced partners who were more satisfied, earlier in their relationships, and less likely to be parents, with a marginally higher proportion of Latino couples. Radio and television coverage produced more established couples with higher levels of relationship discord. Self-selection effects revealed that couples from demographic groups at greater risk for divorce (those who had not completed high school, those with children at marriage, and African American couples) were more likely to agree to participate. In contrast, imposing a set of common selection criteria served to exclude couples from demographic risk groups and selected for couples with higher marital quality. Implications for recruiting couples to participate in preventive interventions are outlined.

Risk Moderates the Outcome of Relationship Education: A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE To test whether the effects of relationship education programs generalize across couples regardless of their baseline levels of risk for relationship distress, or whether intervention effects vary systematically as a function of risk. The former result would support primary prevention models; the latter result would support a shift toward secondary prevention strategies. METHOD Engaged and newlywed couples (N = 130) were randomized into 1 of 3 relationship education programs. Individual and relational risk factors assessed at baseline were tested as moderators of 3-year changes in relationship satisfaction, overall and in each of the 3 treatment conditions. RESULTS Treatment effects varied as a function of risk, and more so with variables capturing relational risk factors than individual risk factors. High-risk couples (e.g., couples with lower levels of baseline commitment and satisfaction) tended to decline less rapidly in satisfaction than low-risk couples following treatment. Couples with acute concerns at baseline, including higher levels of physical aggression and alcohol use, benefitted less from intervention than couples without these concerns. Comparisons across treatment conditions indicate that couples with relatively high baseline satisfaction and commitment scores declined faster in satisfaction when assigned to an intensive skill-based intervention, as compared with a low-intensity intervention. CONCLUSIONS Outcomes of skill-based relationship education differ depending on premarital risk factors. Efficient identification of couples at risk for adverse relationship outcomes is needed to refine future prevention efforts, and deploying prevention resources specifically to at-risk populations may be the most effective strategy for strengthening couples and families.

Established and emerging perspectives on violence in intimate relationships.

We provide a critical review of established and emerging perspectives on violence in intimate relationships. First, we review two broad theoretical perspectives that have guided most previous empirical work on partner violence. Feminist perspectives focus on how the patriarchal system contributes to men’s violence against women. Psychological perspectives focus on background and personality variables that put some individuals at risk for becoming violent toward their intimate partners. Next, we review recent interactional perspectives that examine dyadic and situational contexts in which partner violence arises. Dyadic perspectives focus on how partner abuse arises from the interaction of both partners’ characteristics and how this interaction unfolds over time. Situational perspectives focus on the specific situational contexts in which episodes of abuse arise, including consideration of factors that inhibit and disinhibit aggression toward an intimate partner. We then describe several multi-factor models that integrate multiple perspectives on partner violence, and we consider the implications of the various perspectives for prevention and treatment of partner abuse. Finally, we highlight promising directions for future research on partner violence. Violence against partners is alarmingly common in heterosexual marital relationships (e.g., 16 percent prevalence in a year’s time; Straus & Gelles, 1990) and even more common in dating, same-sex, and cohabiting relationships (e.g., Straus, 2004; Statistics Canada, 2005). The most common forms of partner violence (PV) are occasional pushing and shoving during an argument; the most severe and fortunately least common forms of PV are acts of injurious violence, such as beating up or attacking a partner with a weapon (e.g., Archer, 2002; Statistics

Relationship education and marital satisfaction in newlywed couples: A propensity score analysis.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether premarital relationship education and characteristics of relationship education in a community sample of newlywed couples predicted marital trajectories over 27 months. Newlywed couples (N = 191) completed measures of marital satisfaction 9 times over 27 months, and prior to marriage they provided information about relationship education and demographic, personal, and relationship risk factors for marital distress. Propensity scores (i.e., the probability of receiving relationship education) were estimated using the marital distress risk factors, and used to derive a matched sample of 72 couples who participated in relationship education and 86 couples who did not. Multilevel analyses of the propensity score matched sample (n = 158) indicated that wives who participated in relationship education had declines in marital satisfaction while wives who did not receive relationship education maintained satisfaction over time. Furthermore, the more hours of relationship education the couple participated in, the less steeply their marital satisfaction declined. Findings indicate that participation in community-based relationship education may not prevent declines in marital satisfaction for newlywed couples. A possible explanation is that the quality of relationship education available to couples is generally poor and could be greatly improved by inclusion of empirically based relationship information and skills training that are known to lead to stronger marriages.