Esther S. Kluwer

Utrecht University | UU · Department of Psychology

Objective To identify subgroups of parents with distinct patterns of change in relationship satisfaction across the transition to parenthood and predict subgroup membership from prenatal levels of relational processes. Background The average decline in relationship satisfaction that is generally found across the transition to parenthood masks the...

The transition to parenthood is both a joyous and a challenging event in a relationship. Studies to date have found mostly negative effects of the birth of the first child on the parental relationship. We propose that partners' pre-pregnancy individual happiness may serve as a buffer against these negative effects. We predicted that parents who are...

Previous research has demonstrated that trait self-control is related to a range of positive romantic relationship processes, suggesting that trait self-control should be positively and robustly linked to relationship satisfaction in both partners in a romantic relationship. However, the existing empirical evidence is limited and mixed, especially...

In this study, we examined whether regular divorces can be distinguished from complex divorces by measuring the intensity of negative emotions that divorced parents report when thinking about their ex-partner. We recruited two groups of parents: n = 136 in a regular divorce, and n = 191 in a complex divorce. Based on the existing literature, we pre...

Forgiveness is crucial for establishing coparenting relationships following divorce, yet little is known about the predictors of forgiveness after divorce. In 2 studies, we explore dispositional and divorcespecific factors that correlate with ex-partner forgiveness. In Study 1, we used data from a convenience sample of 136 divorced parents. In Stud...

Given the powerful implications of relationship quality for health and well-being, a central mission of relationship science is explaining why some romantic relationships thrive more than others. This large-scale project used machine learning (i.e., Random Forests) to 1) quantify the extent to which relationship quality is predictable and 2) identi...

A driving force of relationship maintenance is the fulfillment of basic psychological needs, in particular, the needs for relatedness and autonomy. Until now, research has considered the fulfillment of relatedness and autonomy needs as independent determinants of relationship functioning or as one merged construct called need fulfillment. Little is...

The relation between divorce, co-parenting conflicts, and children’s adjustment problems has been well established. An unresolved question for research and clinical interventions, however, is how conflicts between parents are maintained and/or escalate. This cross-sectional research tested the hypothesis that co-parenting conflicts in divorced coup...

The influence of positive relationship processes, specifically perceived responsiveness, felt gratitude, and felt trust, on perceived adaptation to parenthood was investigated. It was hypothesized that both higher initial levels prior to pregnancy as well as increases over time in perceived responsiveness, felt gratitude, and felt trust predicted b...

This research tests the prediction that unforgiving motivations (feelings of revenge and distance) toward the ex-spouse are associated with less reported well-being of divorced parents and their children when the intent to maintain contact with the ex-partner is high rather than low. It is also predicted that unforgiving motivations are associated...

Using multiwave survey data collected among 251 financial sales professionals, we tested whether involuntarily working more from home (teleworking) was related to higher time-based and strain-based work-to-family conflict (WFC). Employees' boundary management strategy (integration vs. segmentation) and work–family balance self-efficacy were conside...

This research investigated how and for whom experiences of the workday spill over into relationship functioning at home. Two correlational studies and one experimental study were conducted among Dutch dual-earners with children. Moderated mediation analyses showed that work demands spill over into relationship behavior through the depletion of temp...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how work and family aspirations relate to occupational achievements and gender differences herein. Design/methodology/approach – Using data from 2009 the authors examined the relationship between career and childrearing aspirations and occupational achievements of Dutch parents. Using path mode...

This study was designed to examine whether spouses' work-to-family (WF) enrichment experiences account for their own and their partner's marital satisfaction, beyond the effects of WF conflict. Data were collected from both partners of 215 dual-earner couples with children. As hypothesized, structural equation modeling revealed that WF enrichment e...

Two studies examined how the effect of dependency and emotions on the dynamics of relationship conflict differs between men and women. In Study 1, 96 women and 67 men were presented with conflict situations that might occur in their relation- ship; the probability of aggression, anger, and dependency was measured. Results showed that anger mediated...

Using data from a sample of Dutch dual-earner parents (N = 261), this study showed that parents' psychological availability acted as a link between negative and positive workday residuals (i.e., work-related negative mood, exhaustion, rumination, and work-related positive mood and vigor) and the quality of parent–child interactions after the workda...

This article investigates the association between work characteristics and parent–child interaction time. In addition to studying the commonly considered working hours, the authors investigated the effects of job demands and resources such as job insecurity, autonomy and non-standard hours. Moreover, they analysed whether these associations were di...

This research investigated how negative and positive residuals of the workday spill over into the partner relationship. To unravel the mechanism of this spillover, this study introduces the concept of “psychological availability,” which refers to the individual's ability and motivation to direct psychological resources at the partner. A survey was...

Stress, on average, is bad for relationships. Yet stress at work is not always associated with negative relationship outcomes. The premise of the current study was that associations between workload and trajectories of marital satisfaction depend on circumstances that may constrain or facilitate partners' ability to negotiate their multiple roles....

Helping behavior at work has become increasingly important, with organizations making more and more use of cooperative work practices. The difficulty is that employees are facing growing demands beyond the workplace. This study investigates the mechanisms by which family involvement (family structure, family tasks, family support) affects helping b...

This study investigated whether the amount and nature of parent-child time mediated the association between parental work characteristics and parent-child relationship quality. We based hypotheses on the conflict and enrichment approaches, and we tested a path model using self-collected data on 1,008 Dutch fathers and 929 Dutch mothers with school-...

The transition to parenthood is generally seen as one of the most challenging events in the early stages of marriage. But is it really that detrimental for marriage and do all couples go through the same changes? This article provides a state-of-the-art review of research on marital change across the transition to parenthood. I first address to wha...

Evidence of gender differences in reactions to experienced fair and unfair treatment in relationship conflict was examined in 4 studies among dating, cohabiting, and married participants in The Netherlands. Using a critical incidents method and a scenario, this research provided convergent results suggesting that the relationship between fairness o...

This research addresses the question of whether and when unforgiving motivations (i.e., revenge and avoidance) following infidelity are associated with positive and negative affect. We predicted that unforgiving motivations following infidelity are associated with less positive affect and more negative affect, but only when one is highly committed...

This study examined whether the frequency of child-related activities was associated with parents' own work demands and those of their partners. In addition to parental paid working hours, we considered the parents' organizational culture and experienced job insecurity. Moreover, we differentiated between child-related routine and interactive activ...

We aimed to explain the influence of family involvement on feelings of burnout among employees who combine work and family tasks. As proxies for family involvement, we used the family structure (partner, number and age of children) and family tasks (e.g. hours spent on household chores). We compared conflict theory and enrichment theory, and invest...

Although conflict and negotiation studies have examined symmetrical structures in which both parties want change, or asymmetrical structures in which one party wants change and the other to maintain the status quo, no research provided a direct comparison of both structures. Two experiments were conducted to fill this void. Results show that in asy...

Longitudinal data from 293 Dutch couples were used to examine the association between conflict frequency and relationship quality across the transition to parenthood, which is known as one of the most challenging events in the early stages of marriage. More frequent conflict during pregnancy was related to lower levels of relationship quality acros...

This article describes strengths and weaknesses of using questionnaires in studying conflict. We address five issues that we came across in our own research on organizations and close relationships. The first issue is that conflict is a sensitive topic which has consequences for the acquisition of participants and the response to surveys. Second, w...

The present research addresses the question of when and why forgiving might enhance psychological well-being. The authors predict that forgiving is associated with enhanced well-being but that this association should be more pronounced in relationships of strong rather than weak commitment. This hypothesis received good support in Studies 1-3. Stud...

We offer a social psychological perspective on gender-related inequalities in close relationships and integrate two lines of research that have focused on the intrapersonal perceptions and interpersonal consequences respectively of the gendered division of labour. We start with a brief summary of research on gender-related inequalities in the divis...

In a three-wave longitudinal survey among 293 couples, we studied the determinants of husbands' and wives' fairness judgments regarding the division of labor across the transition to parenthood. We tested predictions derived from the distributive justice framework that perceptions of fairness regarding the division of labor are affected by (a) want...

Conflict management influences individual wellbeing, group performance and organizational effectiveness. This research examined the psychometric qualities of two versions of the newly developed test for conflict handling. The lean version (Study 1 and 2) included problem solving, forcing, yielding and avoiding as distinct conflict management strate...

Discusses mainly English-language research published in the 1990s on behavior and cognition, on coping with stressful events, and on the role of individual differences in relationships. Conceptual and methodological aspects, theoretical models of relationship quality, and marital relationships in the 21st century are examined. (PsycINFO Database Re...

This research addresses couples’reports of their (hypothetical) attempts to maintain or change a gendered division of labor through conflict interactions. Two experiments in which spouses responded to scenarios showed that spouses reported more conflict over the division of housework than conflict over paid work and child care, and that wives more...

We compared 118 egalitarian women (subscribers to the Dutch feminist magazine Opzij) with 118 traditional women (subscribers to the widely read Dutch women's magazine Margriet). On average, egalitarian women had a more equal division of household labor at home than did traditional women but experienced more discontent about the division of labor in...

Data from 43 countries were used to examine the negative association between ambient temperature and economic prosperity during the 1965–1994 period from a cross-cultural perspective. Surprisingly, the inhabitants' overall level of cultural competitiveness does not affect economic growth. However, positive temperature–competitiveness and negative c...

An experiment was conducted to explore whether bias in self-other judgments pertains to conflict in intimate relationships and is overruled by gender role stereotypes in non-intimate relationships between males and females. It was predicted that when the opponent was one's intimate partner, both male and female participants would rate themselves as...

This study addresses responses to gender inequality in the division of family work as well as the outcomes of those responses. Ninety-eight husbands and 95 wives responded to stimulus information manipulated by means of scenarios. Participants reported more wife-demand/husband-withdraw interaction than husband-demand/wife-withdraw interaction when...

The division of labor as a source of conflict is a concern for many couples. This study goes beyond the mere prediction of the amount of marital conflict by scrutinizing the relationship between spouses' discontent with the division of labor, their conflict interaction patterns, and subsequent outcomes. In addition, it aims to explain the relations...

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the relations between time use, dissatisfaction, and marital conflict about the division of household labor and paid work. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 54 Dutch couples who were either expecting their first child or had a first child under 12 months old. Couples experienced more con...

Summary Family life under pressure? The relation between parental work demands and routine and interactive activities with children This study examines whether the frequency of child-related activities is associated with parents’ own work demands and those of their partners. We consider job characteristics in addition to the often studied parental...