Purpose: The Love Together, Parent Together (L2P2) program is a brief, online couple’s intervention designed to prevent relationship deterioration by targeting maladaptive psychological processes. Methods: The current study used a parallel-group randomized controlled trial of L2P2 to examine its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness. One-hundred forty couples with young children (<6 years old) were randomly assigned to L2P2 or a control group. In three writing sessions over nine weeks, all couples completed fact-based summaries about recent conflicts; the L2P2 group also responded to three writing prompts eliciting conflict reappraisal. Participants completed baseline, post-intervention, and 1- and 3-month follow-up assessments. Results: Goals related to feasibility and acceptability were met. In addition, the control group, but not the L2P2 group, showed deteriorating relationship quality from baseline to post-intervention. Conclusions: L2P2 shows promise as a brief intervention to attenuate declines in relationship quality in couples.

This review examines the effectiveness of positive parenting interventions aimed at improving sensitivity, responsiveness, and/or non-harsh discipline on children's early cognitive skills, in four meta-analyses addressing general mental abilities, language, executive functioning, and pre-academics. The objectives are to assess the magnitude of intervention effectiveness and identify moderators of effectiveness. We include randomized controlled trials of interventions targeting positive parenting to improve cognition in children < 6 years. Studies that include children with neurodevelopmental and/or hearing disorders were excluded. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, ERIC, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (October 2021) and citation chaining identified relevant records. Five reviewers completed screening/assessments, extraction, and risk of bias. Pooled analysis in Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (Version 3) used random effects modeling, with moderation via Q-statistics and meta-regression. Positive parenting interventions led to significant improvements in mental abilities (g = 0.46, N = 5746; k = 33) and language (g = 0.25, N = 6428; k = 30). Effect sizes were smaller and nonsignificant for executive functioning (g = 0.07, N = 3628; k = 14) and pre-academics (g = 0.16, N = 2365; k = 7). Robust moderators emerged for language and cognition. For cognition, studies with higher risk of bias scores yielded larger intervention effects. For language, studies with younger children had larger effect sizes. Studies mitigated selection and detection bias, though greater transparency of reporting is needed. Interventions that promote parental sensitivity, responsiveness, and non-harsh discipline improve early mental abilities and language. Studies examining executive functioning and pre-academics are needed to examine moderators of intervention effectiveness. Trial registration Systematic review PROSPERO registration. CRD42020222143.

Parenting couples with young children are at risk for relationship problems, which was exacerbated during the pandemic. The current study examines the use of a brief, low-intensity writing intervention that promotes conflict reappraisal strategies to enhance relationship quality. We examine feasibility metrics (i.e., recruitment, eligibility criteria, demographics, retention, adherence, uptake, and acceptability) and pre-post change in couple and family outcomes, with the goal of informing future program iterations. Fifteen couples (n = 30), at elevated risk for relationship difficulties due to their developmental stage (i.e., couples with children <6 years old) and the context (i.e., COVID-19 pandemic), took part in a single-arm, pre-test/post-test study in August – October 2021. Following the completion of baseline surveys, couples independently took part in three conflict reappraisal writing sessions over the course of five weeks. Subsequently, they completed post-test surveys. The sample was diverse: 60.0