The Impact of Couples-based Interventions on Families

The Cowan’s central theme is that a healthy couple relationship is a significant factor in appropriate parenting behavior, which, in turn, influences children’s well-being. Consequently, when the couple relationship is troubled, parenting tends to be less effective. The results of two independent studies on couples-based interventions and their subsequent effect on parenting behavior and child outcomes reinforce this idea. Especially noteworthy is the fact that each of these studies used a randomized controlled design, ensuring that any difference in outcomes between parents who participated in the program and those who did not is due to the intervention itself. Additionally, each intervention was timed to coincide with a time of transition in parents’ lives (such as a new birth or a child’s transition to kindergarten), when couples’ needs become apparent and parents are more open to learning new coping strategies.