Article Review
Raymond Wallace
LIFC-302 Section B01 Marriage Coaching
Kincaid, R. (2022). Partner–Child Relationship Satisfaction and Marital Satisfaction: Do
Impressions Spill Over?
Journal of Family Issues, 43(10), 2724-2744. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X211033932
Article Summary
This article discusses how parent-child relationship satisfaction influences marital
satisfaction between couples. Moreover, the author examines how the relationship between
husband and wife (parents) and parent-child hypotheses are tested to find the comparison of the
relationships the mother and father has with the child/ren and how it affects the relationship with
the partner. This article also explains the methods used, and the results to find the impressions of
the marital relationship satisfaction between the couple and the parent-child relationship
satisfaction.
Methods
The methods used in this study consisted of data used in the form of questionnaires
during an interview either by way of telephone or face to face with household members ranging
in age from 15 along with adults (Kincaid, 2021). The type of data used called Household,
Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) contained surveys of waves from four
different years starting with year 2006, 2009, 2012, and finally 2016. This method measured not
only marital satisfaction, but it also measured gender differences. Lastly, an analytic plan was
also used in the hypotheses that were tested using fixed effects of regression (Kincaid, 2021, pg.
2733). Various models were used also to measure regressed marital satisfaction, partner-child
relationship satisfaction, and other control variables using men, women, and children.
Results
The result of this study shows that using certain tests like control variables for women,
focal variables for men to understand the relationship between each individual and their children,
for example the focal variables result showed that men rated higher in partner-child relationship
satisfaction and division of childcare satisfaction. The control variable rated the women and
found that women rated higher marital satisfaction due to being younger, and likely to have had a
college education (Kincaid, 2021, pg. 2733).
Discussion
In the final discussion Kincaid shares his hypotheses of the four waves of HILDA survey
and acknowledges that partner-child relationship satisfaction does indeed has a strong influence
on marital satisfaction. Kincaid also expresses that partner-child relationship satisfaction and
marital satisfaction could be understood as a form of “impression spillover,” which describes a
person’s feelings about a relationship between other individuals (Kincaid, 2021), in other words
both the wife and husband in this instance both look at how each other relate to their children and
how that relationship has a big impact on the marital relationship satisfaction. Another
hypothesis Kincaid expressed was that in the impression spillover the benefit of it is when
spouses see the relationship each other maintains with their children, then their relationship with
each other benefits the family as a whole.
Coaching Connection
After reading this article on partner-child relationship satisfaction and marital
satisfaction, it is impressive to use this in a coaching session. In today’s society most marriages
are not satisfied with how each partner’s relationship with their children exists. As a marriage
coach I would use the methods in a coaching session to help couples understand the importance
of how marital quality should be maintained for the purpose of family support and well-being. I
would also use this article to help couples understand the impression spillover, listening to one
another’s feelings about their relationship with their children and building strong bonds with
each other. Parrott & Parrott explained how a couple should pray together and pray for each
other. 1 Peter 3:7 says, “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way,
showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of
life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” I thought this article to be an encouraging and
valuable way to work with couples and a consideration for marriage coaches to work with
couples in distress.
