The Spillover of Child‐Related Stress into Parents' Relationship Mediated by Couple Communication

• Author: E. Mark Cummings,Fridtjof W. Nussbeck,Guy Bodenmann,Martina Zemp
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12244
• Published date: 01 April 2017
• Date: 01 April 2017

M Z University of Mannheim

F W. N Bielefeld University

E. M C University of Notre Dame

G B University of Zurich

The Spillover of Child-Related Stress into Parents’

Relationship Mediated by Couple Communication

Objective: The present study examines the

impact of parents’ perceptions of child-related

stress on observed couple communication and

their self-reported relationship satisfaction.

Background: A considerable body of evidence

indicates that challenges related to raising chil-

dren can negatively affect parents’ interactions

and relationship satisfaction. Although some

potentially underlying mechanisms have been

explored in previous research, questions about

the potential effect of child-related stress on the

interparental relationship remain open.

Method: Parents’ perceptions of child-related

stress and relationship satisfaction were asse-

ssed in a convenience sample of 118 parental

couples living in Switzerland. Additionally, the

couples participated in a conict conversation

task to obtain an observational measure of cou-

ples’ communication quality. Data were ana-

lyzed with an actor–partner interdependence

mediation model.

Results: Child-related stress among parents

was directly linked to lower relationship sat-

isfaction in both partners and one partner’s

Department of Psychology, University of Mannheim,

L13, 15-17, 68131 Mannheim, Germany (m.zemp@psy

chologie.uni-mannheim.de).

Key Words: Children,couples, intimate relationship, parent-

ing, stress.

child-related stress was associated with the

other partner’s communication quality. The

mediation analysis revealed that high levels of

child-related stresswere linked with relationship

satisfaction by impairing the other partner’s

communication quality.

Conclusion: The study suggests that child-

related stress is among the challenges that

may impair parents’ relationship quality,

partially mediated through worsened couple

communication.

Implications: The ndings support the potential

benets of prevention programs aimed atreduc-

ing child-related stress and enhancing couple

coping skills for maintaining parents’ relation-

ship satisfaction over time.

Persuasive empirical support suggests that

having and raising children may impair couple

communication and relationship satisfaction in

parents (Mitnick, Heyman, & Smith Slep,

2009). Previous literature has documented the

manifold challenges for parents as restrictions

of freedom or sleep disruption, for example, that

may underlie the negative effects of parenthood

on the interparental relationship (e.g., Medina,

Lederhos, & Lillis, 2009; Twenge, Campbell,

& Foster, 2003). Little is known, however,

about the implications of parents’ perceptions

of child-related stress for their relationship with

Family Relations 66 (April 2017): 317–330 317

DOI:10.1111/fare.12244