Strengthening Couple Functioning To Enhance Child Outcomes In Low-income Families: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 94(1), Jan 2026, 39-48; doi:10.1037/ccp0000988

Objective: Large-scale efforts have disseminated couple and relationship programs to strengthen couple relationships among low-income families, with the hope that doing so would yield benefits for partners and their children. The present study provided a rigorous test of this hypothesis by examining indirect effects of a couple-focused preventive intervention on child outcomes in a large sample of low-income families. Method: Data were drawn from the Supporting Healthy Marriage evaluation, in which 6,298 low-income married couples with children were randomized to a relationship education intervention with supplemental activities and family support services or to a control condition. Couple relationship functioning was assessed 12 months postrandomization, and five child outcomes (self-regulation, internalizing behavior problems, externalizing behavior problems, cognitive and academic performance, and social competence) were assessed 30 months postrandomization. Results: Structural equation models revealed that the intervention had significant indirect effects on children’s self-regulation, internalizing behavior problems (children younger than 14 years), externalizing behavior problems (children younger than 14 years), cognitive and academic performance (children older than 5 years), and social competence, through enhanced couple functioning. Conclusions: Participation in a couple-focused intervention had significant indirect effects on low-income couples’ children 30 months later through intervention-derived improvements in the couple relationship. These results suggest that strengthening couple relationships may be a viable option to indirectly promote child well-being in low-income families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)