Relationship-strengthening class improves life for new families

University Park, Pa. Expectant parents who completed a brief relationship-strengthening class around the time their child was born showed lasting effects on each family member's well being and on the family's overall relationships, according to a recent Penn State study. The team, led by Mark Feinberg, senior research associate in Penn State's Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, analyzed the effects of the Family Foundations program for three years after a child was born. The Family Foundations program, offered in several Pennsylvania locations as part of the study, targets couples expecting their first child. Most research has shown that conflict increases while affection and support decrease among couples after a baby is born. The program's eight sessions - four before birth and four after - aim to foster attitudes and skills related to positive family relationships, such as emotion regulation, temperament and positive parenting. The program is effective, says Feinberg, in part because expectant, first-time parents tend to be open-minded.