Longitudinal patterns of relationship adjustment among German parents

Although there have been many studies that have examined the trajectory of relationship adjustment among newlywed couples in the United States, less is known about the trajectory of relationship adjustment in other countries and over other developmental periods of relationships, such as among families with young children. In this study, we used latent growth curve mixture modeling to examine the trajectories of relationship adjustment among German parents across a 4-year period (N = 242). Approximately 90% of men and women could be classified as showing high relationship adjustment and a stable or increasing trajectory. The remaining 10%, were initially more distressed and showed a decline in relationship adjustment over time. In addition, latent relationship adjustment trajectory class significantly predicted change in men's depressive symptoms over the 4 years; for women, relationship-adjustment trajectory class was related to depressive symptom levels, but did not predict change over time.