ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on several developmental challenges of parenthood as outcome variables to evaluate the predictive capacity of marital competence. Couples with highly competent marriages are predicted to demonstrate successful incorporation of the child into the family as reflected by all three measures: parenting skills, the quality of the infant’s attachments, and direct observation of triadic behavior. For couples who have achieved a highly competent relationship, the challenge involves maintaining that level of relating in the face of the inevitable strains of late pregnancy, birth, and the first year of parenthood. Constant parental strife is considered to be a potential deterrent to the kind of sensitive parenting and effective, pleasurable sharing of parenthood upon which successful incorporations are based. A variety of measures of adult personality and functioning were used in the study at each time period. The personality measures used were ones whose psychometric properties are well-known and for which extensive information concerning reliability and validity is available.
