More than One Way to Get There: Pathways of Change in Coparenting Conflict after a Preventive Intervention

• Author: Elisabeth Mah,Kyle Pruett,Kenneth Epstein,Marsha Kline Pruett,Philip Cowan,Carolyn Cowan,Lisa Pradhan
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12138
• Date: 01 December 2015
• Published date: 01 December 2015

More than One Way to Get There: Pathways of

Change in Coparenting Conflict after a Preventive

Intervention

KENNETH EPSTEIN*

MARSHA KLINE PRUETT

†

PHILIP COWAN

‡

CAROLYN COWAN

‡

LISA PRADHAN

†

ELISABETH MAH

†

KYLE PRUETT

§

This study explored pathways of change in the levels of conflict couples experienced after

Supporting Father Involvement, an evidence-based, prevention-oriented couples and

parenting intervention that included a diverse low-income and working class group of

participants. Pathways of change were examined for couples with baseline confl ict scores

that were initially low, medium, and high. The growth mixture model analysis found that

the best-fitting model for change in couples’ conflict was represented by three distinctly

different change patterns. The intervention was most successful for High-Conflict couples.

This finding contributes to a growing literature examining variations in how relationshi ps

change over time and the process of change, especially for couples in distress. This study

supports further investigation into the impact and costs associated with universal inter-

ventions versus those that target specific groups of higher risk families.

Keywords: Couples; Conflict; Marriage; Change; Prevention; Coparenting

Fam Proc 54:610–618, 2015

There is a normative decline in couple relationship quality after partners become par-

ents, with potentially negative consequences for children. This transition presents an

optimal time to offer interventions aiming to strengthen parents’ relationships and pro-

vide them with resources to deal with disagreements before they escalate out of contro l. In

recent years, preventive interventions for couples early in their relationship (Markman,

Stanley, & Blumberg, 2010) or in early parenthood (Feinberg, Jones, Kan, & Goslin, 2010)

have attempted to reduce conflict and increase collaboration with the hope that the impact

on the coparenting couple would provide benefits for their children. Most of these inter-

vention programs have been “universal” in that recruitment was without regard for demo-

graphic or psychological risk status, with more recent attempts to target low-incom e

parents (Cowan, Cowan, & Knox, 2010). Single studies and meta-analyses indicate

that universal programs show small but statistically significant effects on the parents

*Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.

†

School for Social Work, Smith College, Northampton, MA.

‡

Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.

§

School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kenneth Epstein, Psychiatry, University

of California San Francisco, 1380 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94103. E-mail: ken.epstein@ucsf.edu.

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Family Process, Vol. 54, No. 4, 2015 ©2015 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12138