Paternal Support and Involvement in Unmarried Fragile Families: Impacts on Long-Term Maternal Functioning

Fragile families are defined as those that include socioeconomically disadvantaged unmarried or romantically unstable parents. Using a life course perspective and the spillover hypothesis, we examined concurrent bidirectional influences of coparenting and father involvement and the impact of coparenting and father involvement trajectories on maternal mental health among unmarried parents in fragile families. An increased understanding of factors that influence fathering and coparenting behavior within fragile families, as well as changes in these behaviors over time, can uncover contextual factors that are more likely to result in positive mental health outcomes for vulnerable mothers.

Objectives

1. To explicate how maternal repartnering impacts father involvement and coparenting over time 2. To understand trajectories of father involvement and coparenting support among parents in fragile families from a life-course perspective 3. To demonstrate the impact of declines in father involvement and coparenting on long-term maternal mental health

Sibling Support Moderates Couple Hostility Across Generations

We hypothesized that warm and supportive sibling relationships provide resources for children who witness inter-parental hostility in the home. Longitudinal data included 294 families from the Midwest of the United States. Findings suggest that warm and supportive sibling relationships in adolescence may dampen or exacerbate continuity in couple hostility across generations, dependent on the sex constellation of the sibling relationship (e.g., sister-sister; sister-brother; brother-brother). An explanation of our findings will be discussed in light of past theoretical and empirical work on gender differences and sibling influence on the intergenerational transmission of hostility in close relationships.  

Objectives

1. To evaluate the role of sibling warmth/support in the intergenerational transmission of hostility in romantic relationships. 2. To analyze differences among sibling dyads (e.g., brother-brother vs. sister-sister) in predicting romantic relationship hostility in adulthood. 3. To demonstrate the roles of earlier parent and sibling socialization in the development of adulthood romantic relationships.

Sibling Relations from Emerging Adulthood into Midlife

  Sibling relationships act as an emotional resource across the lifespan, but the nature of these relationships across adulthood have not been fully characterized. Participants (n = 318) completed questionnaires in emerging adulthood (mage = 20.6 years) and midlife (mage = 34.6 years). Sibling relationship satisfaction positively predicted later sibling relationship satisfaction and advice-seeking, and contact, but only for older siblings. This suggests that positive sibling relationships during emerging adulthood motivates older siblings to maintain sibling contact in midlife. Findings highlight the importance of sibling relationships during emerging adulthood, as siblings can be used as a source of support in midlife.        

Objectives

Firstly, the present study assessed the descriptive characteristics and association between sibling relationship satisfaction during emerging adulthood and sibling relationship satisfaction, advice seeking, and contact during midlife. Secondly, the aim of the study was to examine whether sibling relationship satisfaction, advice seeking, and contact during midlife differed by the sex of either adult, birth order, and forms of contact during midlife. The third aim of the study was to test whether sibling relationship satisfaction in emerging adulthood interacted with being female, having a sister, or being a younger sibling, to predict sibling relationship quality, advice, and contact during midlife.

More than just a playmate: Siblings and executive function

  Executive function (EF) has been documented as an influential predictor of several developmental domains. Siblings offer a unique context for practicing social and cognitive skills like EF. Further, siblings are influential agents in parenting practices and parent-child interactions, which may in turn, be related to EF. Analyses revealed a negative association between the presence of siblings and EF. Further, initial analyses suggested that sibling presence was indirectly related to EF through a broadly defined measure of positive parenting, follow up analyses revealed that when the positive parenting scale is broken down into distinct parenting traits, indirect effects were not significant.

Objectives

The current study investigates 1) the extent to which the presence of a sibling is related to EF, and 2) whether the presence of a sibling is indirectly related to EF through positive parenting practices 3) whether the presence of siblings in indirectly related to EF through specific traits of parenting.

Sibling Jealousy During Emerging Adulthood: Correlates and Implications for Adjustment

Emerging adult perceptions of PDT and social comparisons have been linked to maladjustment for individual and sibling relationships. Despite direct effects being identified, additional mechanisms have not been considered during this developmental period. The complex emotion of jealousy was postulated to be this linking mechanism. Using a SEM analysis, this study assessed the implications of PDT and social comparisons on depressive symptoms, risky-behaviors, sibling relationship quality, and communication patterns, through jealousy. Results suggested that PDT and social comparisons were both directly and indirectly related to these adjustment outcomes. Further, these results suggest stronger effects of social comparisons compared with PDT.

Objectives

1. To evaluate the reliability and validity of a new measure of sibling jealousy. 2. To determine the correlates of sibling jealousy during emerging adulthood. 3. To identify salient features of emerging adult adjustment and the implications they may have for sibling and family relationships.

Work-Family Processes and Adolescent Externalizing Behavior

The current study examined the relationship between negative work-to-family spillover, parental stress, parental involvement and child externalizing behavior. The study sample consisted of 248 dual-earner families from the Flourishing Families Project. Findings from Structural equation modeling revealed that the positive link between negative work-to-family spillover and parental stress held up for fathers but not mothers. Both mothers’ and fathers’ increased parental stress compromise their parental involvement, which in turn influence children’s externalizing behavior. When mother’s parental stress was high, father had a significant lower level of parental involvement, whereas mother’s parental involvement was not significantly affected by father’s parental stress.

Objectives

To examine the process between negative work-to-family spillover and child externalizing behavior for both parents and show how this process may differ between mothers and fathers. To explore whether mother’s/father’s experience of negative work-to-family spillover influences the spouse’s parental stress, and whether mother’s/father’s parental stress influences the spouse’s level of parental involvement. To examine whether there are gender differences for the above cross-partner effects.