This contribution reveals the associations between feelings of competence and autonomy in the parental role and mothers’ and fathers’ (positive and negative) parenting behavior in a dyadic perspective. The presented analyses consider reciprocal influences both on individual and couple level which are expected particularly from the stress theory perspective in terms of “spill over” and “cross over” effects and against the background of emotional contagion effects. Data comes from the 2nd and 4th wave of the German Family Panel (pairfam). The expected associations are evaluated using actor-partner interdependence models among a sample of N=176 mother-father dyads of 8- to 15-year-old children. Interdependencies are specified in the cross section as well as in the longitudinal perspective. On individual level results indicate that mothers’ and fathers’ feelings of competence and autonomy in the parental role are positively associated with their current parenting behavior towards their child. Longitudinally, only feelings of competence in the parental role affect later parenting behavior. On couple level cross sectional and longitudinal effects can be proven significant as well. Especially, by means of autoregressive models that prove cross-lagged effects significant interdependencies among couples can be revealed: Fathers’ experiences of competence and autonomy in the parental role affect mothers’ later experiences, while otherwise mothers’ parenting behavior affects fathers’ later parenting behavior. Results highlight the importance of considering characteristics of both mothers and fathers when researching dynamics within families. The findings are discussed with regard to their relevance for practice and research in family psychology.

Introduction: Parental traits can have major influences on family relationships. The objective of this study is to explore the impact of parental self-efficacy on the coparental relationship. A dyadic approach was adopted with the aim to analyze the influence of each parent’s self-efficacy on one’s own perception of the coparental relationship and on the perception of the other parent.

Method: The sample was composed of 126 Swiss couples (M age = 37.05; SD=4.75) having at least one child of maximum 10 years. The French versions of the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (Gibaud-Wallston, 1977) and of McHale’s coparenting scale (1997) were used to evaluate parental self-efficacy and the coparental relationship. An actor and partner interdependence model was used.

Results: Parental self-efficacy positively predicted the perception of the coparental relationship with a small size effect for mothers (β = .188, p < .05) and a medium size effect for fathers (β = .414, p < .01). A dyadic effect was also found, indicating that in families where fathers had a high parental self-efficacy, mothers were more satisfied of the coparental relationship (β = .217, p < .05). The reciprocal was not significant.

Conclusion: Self-efficacy appears to be a positive trait for satisfactory coparental relationships. However, only fathers’ self-efficacy had a dyadic effect on mothers’ coparental satisfaction. These results indicate that fathers’ perception of their parental role is particularly important for the coparental team. As such, it might be an interesting target for family prevention and therapy.

Having children has been largely associated with reduced relationship satisfaction. This study investigates relationship satisfaction among persons with and without children, with further analysis comparing findings across parents by the age and gender of their children. Findings are based on data from the Sustaining Relationships research, carried out by the National Centre for Family Research in Malta. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered through computer-assisted telephone interviewing with a random stratified sample. This study considers the subset of 1369 participants in couple relationships. While high levels of relationship satisfaction were reported by both groups, respondents with children yielded slightly lower scores than those without children. Significant differences among parents emerged with respect to their children’s gender and age range. Parents reporting highest levels of relationship satisfaction had daughters below age 9 (p=0.021). Relationship satisfaction decreased among parents with male offspring aged 10 to 19 (p=0.045). A greater tendency to seek relationship support was associated with having offspring aged 10 to 19, while having children aged 20 and over was associated with decreased help-seeking behaviour (p=.000). Such findings indicate that parenting adolescents may bring challenges to the couple relationship, while shedding light on the complex processes within the couple system and its wider context. A significant difference was found with regards to demonstration of affection (p=0.16), with parents reporting poorer partner agreement. Having children also impacted couples’ employment situation (p=.000) and perceived income adequacy (p=.000). Participants with children were less likely to have both partners working full-time and reported lower income adequacy.

Self-perceived health has been studied in terms of somatic illness, and socioeconomic inequalities. Mental well-being has been associated with better self-perceived health, family being a reported driver of mental well-being.

A cross-sectional study has been carried out on a nationally representative sample in Malta during 2015 to investigate life satisfaction in Maltese society and drivers and inhibitors thereof. A net sample of 2469 adults (89% response) drawn, from a population register, was recruited through quota sampling, stratified by gender, resident with partner or not, and the presence of dependent children. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered through computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI). A question on self-perceived health was also included.

On univariate analysis, self-perceived health was positively associated with a graduate level of education (p<0.001), being in a relationship (p<0.001), and satisfaction with one’s financial resources (p<0.001), career (p<0.001), and life generally (p<0.001). It was however negatively associated with increasing age (p<0.001), being female (p<0.001), being married (p=0.039), having children (p<0.001), having mental health problems (p<0.001), facing big problems currently (p=0.048). A mixed picture appears with children of different age groups and gender.

Independent associations were sought using multiple linear regression. Self-perceived health is independently positively related to educational level (p<0.001), career satisfaction (p<0.001) and life satisfaction (p<0.001). Adverse associations include being female (p=0.002), older (p<0.001), or facing mental health problems (p=0.023). Having male children aged above 20 is negatively associated (p<0.001).

Therefore, while factors affecting life satisfaction affect perceived health, age, being female and adult male offspring can be threats.