SAN ANTONIO — An intervention program aimed at couples who are first-time parents may help them cope with the transition to parenthood and with maintaining the quality of their relationship, according to the results of a pilot study.
The Family Foundations program, developed at Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, is aimed at helping couples manage conflict and keep their relationships strong while also learning how to coparent, explained Marni Kan, who presented the study at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research.
“We give couples a lot of information about what it's going to be like to be a family of three [instead of two], and we get them to think about how they will interact, how they want things to be, how they are going to divide up the labor, and whether they want the same things for their child,” she said in an interview.
The pilot project randomized 115 couples who were expecting their first child either to the Family Foundations intervention program or to no treatment, starting at 22 weeks' gestation. Couples in the treatment program received four classes prenatally and another four when their child was 4–6 months old.
Video clips of new parents interacting provided the basis for many of the discussions. “The little snide comments that come out between parents … make people realize how dangerous that type of thing can be if it goes on for any length of time,” Ms. Kan said.
Data on demographics, individual well-being, and relationship quality were collected from all study participants at baseline and at the end of the study. Couples in the intervention group were also mailed a questionnaire after the birth of their child asking about their parenting experiences.
The study found that among all couples, mothers and fathers reported that their love for each other decreased over time, with mothers' love decreasing significantly more than fathers'. Mothers reported more conflict than fathers did, but levels of conflict increased for both mothers and fathers with time.
Parenting difficulties in the intervention group were less strongly associated with the quality of the couple's relationship, which was not the case with couples in the control group, Ms. Kan noted.