October 31, 2019
Dr. Williamson has published a new paper, along with collaborators at the University of Georgia and UCLA, that examines the relationship processes and outcomes of couples who get married after having a child, in comparison to couples who started marriage without a child. Results show that among couples who entered marriage with a shared biological child (premarital parents), satisfaction levels were lower and communication was less effective, less positive, and more negative than couples entering marriage without children. Rates of change in marital functioning did not differ between groups, but the rate of marital dissolution was twice as high among premarital parents (19.1%) relative to couples who were not parents at the start of marriage (9.5%).
