Citation

Beach SR, Barton AW, Lei MK, Brody GH, Kogan SM, Hurt TR, Fincham FD, Stanley SM. Fam. Process 2014; 53(4): 580-595.

Affiliation

Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Family Process Institute, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/famp.12085

PMID

24916371

Abstract

African American couples (n = 331) with children, 89% of whom were married, were assigned to either (a) a culturally sensitive couple- and parenting-enhancement program (ProSAAF) or (b) an information-only control condition in which couples received self-help materials. Husbands averaged 41 years of age and wives averaged 39 years. We found significant effects of program participation in the short term on couple communication, which was targeted by the intervention, as well as over the long term, on self-reported arguing in front of children. Long-term parenting outcomes were fully mediated by changes in communication for wives, but not for husbands. For husbands, positive change depended on amount of wife reported change. We conclude that wives' changes in communication from baseline to posttest may be more pivotal for the couples' long-term experience of decreased arguing in front of children than are husbands' changes, with wives' changes leading to changes in both partners' reports of arguments in front of children.

Language: en