Stability and change in husband-wife adaptation and the development of the positive parent-child relationship

Abstract

Previous research has shown considerable stability in the quality of the husband-wife adaptation from prebirth to 2 years of age as well as a consistency in the mutual influence of the positive marital relationship and the positive parent-child relationship. This study examines if within this overall consistency there are different patterns of marital adaptation and interaction with the infant during the first 2 years of life. Using child expectation of being cared for, parent responsiveness to need, child sense of separate self, and parent's encouragement of effective autonomy as the indices of the positive parent-child relationship, it was found that by 24 months, three marital patterns were associated with a more positive family development: couples consistently high in their adaptation, those showing an initial decrease followed by an increase, and those showing an increase. It was also found that the optimal patterns of marital adaptation to the firstborn were anticipated by prebirth measures of the mother's capacity for positive relationships and adaptation-competence. The optimal patterns in turn anticipated the positive 48-month development of parent-child mutuality and psychological separateness.