Jessica McCaig

University of Tennessee at Knoxville | UTK · Department of Child and Family Studies

Objective The goal was to determine if time spent in specific Healthy Marriage Initiative program components (relationship education courses, supplemental activities, and family support services) was associated with future relationship satisfaction and to examine if effects differed depending on the degree of economic disadvantage. Background Heal...

Economically marginalized families may face enduring vulnerabilities that make adaptive relational processes leading to healthy, long-term relationships more difficult. Informed by the vulnerability-stress-adaptation framework, we utilized an actor-partner interdependence model and dyadic data from a sample of 199 low-income couples who were expect...

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine changes in relationship quality and couple conflict in low‐income parents. Background When welcoming a new child, couples often report increased conflict and a decline in relationship quality. However, some scholars maintain couples can transition to parenthood with few negative effects. Low‐incom...

Patterns of parenting behaviors tend to persist across generations, but less is known about the associations between mothers’ perceived histories of parenting and their current parenting attitudes. The present study examined stress and depression as potential mechanisms through which mothers’ perceived histories of maternal and paternal support and...

Extant research highlights the importance of early paternal engagement for children and families. Thus, there is strong support for the exploration of predictors of low-income father engagement. Informed by Belsky’s process model of parenting, this study explores contextual determinants of father–infant engagement (i.e., verbal engagement, physical...