The Indirect Effect of a Brief Couple Intervention on Child Mental Health Challenges via the Interparental Relationship

Abstract

Background

Child mental health challenges have long-term implications for social and emotional functioning. The quality of the interparental relationship is an important contributor to children's mental health challenges. Evidence supports the use of brief couple interventions to enhance couple functioning, though secondary benefits to child outcomes are unknown. The current study examines whether changes to the interparental relationship following participation in a brief couple intervention, in turn, lead to changes in child mental health challenges.

Methods

Participants come from a secondary dataset from a randomized controlled trial of Love Together, Parent Together, a brief couple intervention, and included 267 parents (140 couples) with at least one child under 6 years old. Parents reported on 10 indicators of the interparental relationship and their child's mental health challenges at baseline, 1 week post-intervention and 1- and 3-month follow-ups.

Results

Based on an exploratory factor analysis including all 10 indicators of the interparental relationship, a two-factor model emerged, which included interparental conflict and general relationship quality. Structural equation modelling was used to test indirect effects with interparental conflict and relationship quality, respectively, as mediators, and child mental health challenges at 1- and 3-month follow-ups, respectively, as outcomes. The intervention did not significantly predict couples' T2 conflict, nor did T2 conflict predict follow-up child mental health challenges. The intervention significantly improved the couples' T2 relationship quality, though there were no reliable effects found on child mental health challenges.

Conclusions

In sum, though findings are consistent with the idea that conflict and relationship quality are unique factors of the interparental relationship, there is no evidence for benefits of a brief couple intervention to child mental health challenges. Future studies should carefully consider measurement selection and assessment schedules to detect developmental cascades following couple interventions.