ABSTRACT Objective This study investigates family emotional expressiveness as a mediator of the longitudinal, bidirectional relationship between marital satisfaction and parental burnout. Background Parental burnout, a state of chronic exhaustion linked to caregiving, adversely impacts family well‐being. While marital satisfaction is a known protective factor, reliance on cross‐sectional designs in prior research has left the bidirectional nature of this link and its underlying mechanisms unclear. Method Using three‐wave longitudinal data (collected at 6‐month intervals) from 671 Chinese families (555 mothers, 388 fathers of middle school students), we employed the Parental Burnout Assessment, ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale, and Self‐Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire. Autoregressive path models were tested for parents separately and within a dyadic model. Results Correlational analyses revealed a negative association between marital satisfaction and parental burnout. However, longitudinal path analyses, conducted both separately for each parent and dyadically, showed no significant direct bidirectional effects. Instead, both modeling approaches revealed that family emotional expressiveness played a key role in the dynamics: T1 marital satisfaction predicted lower T3 burnout via T2 positive and negative emotional expressiveness, and T1 burnout predicted lower T3 marital satisfaction through the same pathway. Conclusion Family emotional expressiveness emerges as a key mechanism driving the bidirectional relationship between marital satisfaction and parental burnout. These findings suggest that interventions targeting family emotional expressiveness may effectively enhance marital quality and reduce parental burnout, offering a novel theoretical framework for family‐centered support.

ABSTRACT Objective This study explores how geographical distance between adult children of immigrants and their parents changes in response to partnership formation and partnership dissolution. Background Geographical distance between generations is a key factor in intergenerational support. However, there is limited knowledge about how proximity changes over the life course, with most research confined to Western cultural settings. The lack of comparative work is surprising since intergenerational proximity and solidarity are often associated with an international migration background. Methods Using longitudinal register data from the Netherlands, we follow individuals born to parents from Suriname, Turkey, and the Netherlands, assessing their geographical distance from parents between ages 22 and 42. Two‐part regression models with impact function specifications are employed to estimate the effects of partnership formation and dissolution on intergenerational proximity. Results In all groups, intergenerational distance increased with partnership formation and decreased following partnership dissolution. In the case of partnership formation, the divergence effect was stronger for women than for men. Following partnership dissolution, the convergence effect was stronger for women than for men of Turkish origin, but similar for men and women of Surinamese and Dutch origin. Leaving home for partnership formation and returning home after partnership dissolution played an important role in explaining the changes in proximity, especially for individuals of Dutch origin, and for men more than for women in all groups. Conclusion Our findings confirm the effects of partnership transitions on intergenerational distance among migrant families and emphasize cultural influences on intergenerational gendered proximity and family interdependencies in migrant communities.

ABSTRACT Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate underexplored dynamics of post‐divorce LGBTQ‐parent families. Background In LGBTQ‐parent families in which children were conceived in the context of a prior different‐gender partnership, children experience the coinciding events of parental separation and a parent's coming out as LGBTQ. In recent decades, research on LGBTQ‐parent families formed following different‐gender divorce has stalled, perhaps due to the increasing emphasis on planned LGBTQ‐parent families, or families formed after parents have come out. Method Twenty‐four adults who were born to different‐gender married parents (i.e., mother/father families) who divorced when one parent came out as LGBTQ responded to a survey about their childhood experiences involving parental divorce and a parent coming out. Results Our data shed light on two themes: navigating loyalty conflicts and LGBTQ stepfamily closeting . When queer mothers divorced straight fathers, participants often described loyalties to their mothers, but when queer fathers divorced straight mothers, participants were less likely to describe divided loyalties and more likely to describe cooperative coparenting. Even once parents came out and formed LGBTQ stepfamilies, they often remained closeted at the family level in that participants kept the nature of their parent and stepparent's relationship hidden from family outsiders, typically to protect their families from real and anticipated heterosexism. Conclusion Our findings have implications for the present‐day well‐being of people who navigated family conflict and secrecy as youth. Amid renewed anti‐LGBTQ hostility, our results highlight the invisible familial costs of adapting to systems of oppression.

ABSTRACT Objective This study investigated whether the associations of own and partner intra‐ and extradyadic stress with relationship satisfaction vary based on both partners' Big Five personality traits among parents. Background Previous research has shown that relationship satisfaction during parenthood often decreases, and increased stress is linked to lower relationship satisfaction; yet these associations differ widely between individuals. Personality traits may explain such individual differences. However, research is scarce on how they interact with intra‐ and extradyadic stress, especially during critical periods such as parenthood, and how these dynamics affect both parents' relationship satisfaction. Method Using the Actor‐Partner Interdependence Model, this study examined prospective associations between own and partner intra‐ and extradyadic stress and relationship satisfaction and whether the Big Five personality traits moderate these associations. Data were drawn from the German cohort study DREAM and included 1961 mothers and 1485 fathers, corresponding to 2021 couples in total, with data from both partners available for 1455 couples. Results Higher levels of own and partner intradyadic stress were associated with lower own relationship satisfaction. The negative association between own intradyadic stress and own relationship satisfaction was stronger among more conscientious parents and weaker among parents with more open partners. Likewise, partner intradyadic stress was less strongly associated with lower own relationship satisfaction among more open parents. In contrast, partner extradyadic stress predicted higher own relationship satisfaction only among open parents. Conclusion Our results highlight the need to consider both partners' personalities in parenting stress management interventions as well as the specific contextual factors of stress parents face.

ABSTRACT Objective This study examines how parental housework time and labor market participation during early childhood are associated with adolescents' housework participation. Background Prior research shows that parental time use is associated with adolescents' housework in gendered ways. Drawing on gender performance theory, new home economics, and the cumulative disadvantage framework, this study assesses whether adolescents' housework participation is associated not only with contemporaneous parental behavior but also with parental behavior during early childhood. Method Using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Study ( N = 1637), regression‐with‐residuals models estimate associations between parents' housework time and labor market participation during preschool (ages 0–5), early school years (ages 6–9), and adolescence (ages 10–15) and adolescents' housework participation. Results Mothers' housework hours during preschool were positively associated with girls' adolescent housework participation but not boys'. Fathers' housework participation during adolescence showed a stronger contemporaneous association with boys' housework time. Fathers' labor market participation during adolescence was associated with higher housework participation among girls only. Mothers' labor market participation during early school years was also positively associated with girls' adolescent housework participation. Conclusion Girls' housework socialization appears to begin in early childhood, whereas boys' housework participation is more strongly linked to contemporaneous parental behavior. Interventions aimed at reducing domestic gender inequality may benefit from targeting the preschool years.

ABSTRACT Objective This study theorizes estrangement as a catalyst for redoing family through a dynamic process of rebuilding kinship's meaning, structure, and content. Background Research on family estrangement has overwhelmingly focused on its emotional, social, and financial consequences, overlooking how estrangement holistically reshapes the meaning, structure, and content of family itself. Method In‐depth interviews with 68 adults estranged from at least one family of origin member. Results Findings reveal that family meaning was redone by rejecting biology and emphasizing choice as an organizing logic of kin, as well as by cultivating symbolic family with ancestors. Family structure and content were redone in concert in three ways: (a) the cultivation of safe and trustworthy connections with same‐age friends, housemates, and community members as well as younger children; (b) the reliance on unconditionally supportive surrogate elder coworkers, community members, and friends' parents; and (c) the re‐prioritization of sustained presence with non‐estranged extended kin. Conclusion By applying redoing family theory to in‐depth interviews on family estrangement, this study adds to the ongoing theorizing of family as a mediated practice rather than a static institution. Implications Findings move beyond deficit narratives of estrangement by highlighting the specific way estranged people rewrite family life; this prompts future research on the redoing of family in other contexts.

ABSTRACT Objective This study investigates the association between mothers' socioeconomic status (SES) and joint physical custody among children, focusing on how the SES gradient in joint physical custody relates to its country‐specific prevalence. Background Joint physical custody has become increasingly common in post‐divorce family arrangements. While joint physical custody can have a positive impact on child wellbeing, it is more prevalent in higher‐SES families, potentially increasing inequalities in divorce effects. Existing research has overlooked how country‐level characteristics, such as the prevalence of joint physical custody, impact the SES gradient in custody. Method Using data from the “Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children” (HBSC) studies of 2005/2006 and 2009/2010, we analyzed approximately 50,000 children aged 11, 13, and 15 in 32 countries. The analysis employed a multilevel design with children nested within countries as well as meta‐regression analyses. Results Findings indicate a positive association between mothers' SES and the likelihood of joint custody. Moreover, the strength of the link between mothers' SES and joint physical custody varies significantly across countries. The country‐specific prevalence of joint physical custody moderates the link between the SES gradient and joint physical custody. The more common joint custody is in countries, the stronger the SES gradient in joint physical custody. Conclusion Countries with a higher prevalence of joint physical custody show a stronger SES gradient, suggesting that the expansion of joint physical custody may introduce socioeconomic inequalities in the consequences of divorce.

ABSTRACT Objective This paper examines the long‐term impact of parental loss in early years on family formation as adults in U.S. cohorts born between 1850 and 1910, focusing on age assortative mating and the timing of first childbirth. Background Early parental loss can profoundly shape children's adult family formation trajectories. However, its impact remains unclear due to multiple mechanisms—such as social control and economic constraints—as well as selection into parental loss and stratified family formation patterns. Empirical evidence on the long‐term effects of parental loss during young ages remains limited. Method The analyses leverage two separate data sources. Crowdsourced genealogical records are used to investigate the relationship between parental death and family formation. To address selection bias, the analysis employs family fixed effects, comparing siblings who experienced parental loss before or after reaching adulthood. Second, historical census data analyzes socio‐demographic stratification of parental loss and family formation patterns. Results Initial OLS estimates link parental loss to increased age heterogamy and earlier childbirth, but fixed‐effects models show these associations weaken or reverse. Census data confirm selection effects, revealing that disadvantaged individuals are more likely to experience parentless households during childhood, enter age‐heterogamous unions, and start families earlier. Conclusion Parental loss in early years correlates with family formation in adulthood, but this appears driven by household selection. Despite data‐related limitations, results underscore the role of selection in studying the consequences of parental loss and family structure.

ABSTRACT Objective This study examines three key pathways in the association between the transition to parenthood and declining relationship satisfaction. Background The decline in relationship satisfaction among new parents is well documented, yet research on the underlying mechanisms remains limited. This study investigated three commonly proposed pathways: gendered shifts in household labor and resulting perceptions of unfairness, increases in negative couple behaviors (relationship conflict), and decreases in positive couple interactions (emotional intimacy and appreciation). Method The study used data on 4108 respondents of the German Family Panel (pairfam), a nationally representative survey conducted annually between 2008 and 2022. Fixed effects multiple mediation regression models were used to explore the mediating factors linking the transition to parenthood to declining relationship satisfaction. Results Following the transition to parenthood, relationship satisfaction declined persistently among both men and women. These declines were largely attributed to increases in negative couple behaviors as well as decreases in positive couple interactions. Among women, but not men, these declines were also linked to increases in household labor. Conclusion These findings highlight the pivotal role of both positive and negative couple interactions and behaviors in shaping relationship satisfaction following the transition to parenthood.

ABSTRACT Objective This brief report examines how couples' education pairings relate to their work‐family arrangements in the United States from 1968 to 2023, focusing on differently educated couples. Background The reversal of the gender gap in education has increased couples where women have more education than their male partners, with implications for how couples divide paid and unpaid labor; yet research on historical trends in work‐family arrangements has often overlooked the gendered nature of educational resources within couples. Method Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (1968–2023), we categorize couples into six work‐family arrangements and analyze the changing associations between education pairings and work‐family arrangements over time using multinomial logistic regression models. Results Work‐family arrangements are stratified by gender and education. Hypogamous couples show a higher likelihood of her‐second‐shift and egalitarian arrangements with a declining probability of male‐breadwinner arrangements. Hypergamous couples maintain the highest male‐breadwinner probability and are underrepresented where women's labor market participation equals or exceeds men's. Hypogamous and hypergamous patterns appear across all educational levels but are most pronounced at completion thresholds, particularly college graduation. Among egalitarian and her‐second‐shift arrangements, educational gradients are stronger and more continuous across levels among hypogamous than hypergamous couples. Implications Educational resources operate distinctly by gender within couples, underscoring the importance of distinguishing between differently educated couples rather than using gender‐neutral measures of couple‐level education when studying work‐family dynamics.