Who Benefits From A Brief Online Couples Intervention? Examining Baseline Moderators Of The Effectiveness Of The Love Together, Parent Together Program

Brief relationship interventions are needed to support the relationship quality of couples parenting young children who face a heightened risk of relationship deterioration. Accordingly, the Love Together, Parent Together (L2P2) program was created as a brief online writing program for parents. The present study addresses secondary objectives of a two-arm pilot randomized control trial (RCT) of the L2P2 program, examining whether multilevel risk factors across the family system moderate the program’s effectiveness. Participants included 140 couples with children (under six years), randomized to the L2P2 intervention or control condition. They completed baseline, post-intervention, and 1- and 3-month follow-up surveys. The intervention involved three writing sessions teaching couples conflict reappraisal strategies. The current study examined couples’ baseline dyadic adjustment, COVID-19 family stress, children’s effortful control, and composite risk as multilevel risk factors. Piecewise latent growth curve modelling (LGCM), using data from four timepoints, was conducted in MPlus 8.5 to examine rates of weekly change in couples’ relationship quality scores as a function of condition (L2P2 vs. control), baseline risk, and the interaction between the two. Results revealed that none of the moderators predicted weekly change in relationship quality, nor did the interaction between each respective moderator and condition. Findings do not support the differential effectiveness of L2P2 as a function of multilevel household risk. Results contribute to a growing literature that addresses for whom and/ or in what circumstances couples’ prevention programs are most effective.