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

Abstract

Child mental health challenges (CMHC) have long-term implications for social and emotional functioning. The quality of the interparental relationship (IPR) is an important contributor to children’s mental health challenges. Evidence supports the use of brief couple interventions (BCI) to enhance couple functioning, though secondary benefits to child outcomes are unknown. The current study examines whether changes to IPR following participation in a BCI, in turn, lead to changes in CMHC. Participants come from a secondary dataset from a randomized controlled trial of Love Together, Parent Together, a BCI, and included 267 parents (140 couples) with at least one child under 6 years old. Parents reported on ten indicators of the IPR and their CMHC at baseline, 1-week post-intervention, and 1- and 3-month follow-up. Based on an exploratory factor analysis, a two-factor model emerged, which included interparental conflict and relationship quality. Structural equation modelling was used to test indirect effects with interparental conflict and relationship quality, respectively, as mediators, and CMHC at 1- and 3-month follow-ups, respectively, as outcomes. The intervention did not significantly predict couple’s T2 conflict, nor did T2 conflict predict follow-up CMHC. The intervention significantly improved the couple’s T2 relationship quality, though there were no reliable effects found on CMHC. In sum, though findings are consistent with the idea that conflict and relationship quality are unique factors of the IRP, there is no evidence for benefits of a BCI to CMHC. Future studies should carefully consider measurement selection and assessment schedules to detect developmental cascades following couple interventions.