The costs and benefits of an empty nest: A longitudinal study of couples' relationship functioning when children leave the home

空巢的成本和收益：对孩子离开家时夫妻关系运作的纵向研究

• 批准号: 2336235
• 负责人: Lisa Neff
• 金额: $ 87.01万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-05-01 至 2028-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2336235&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: costs; benefits; empty; nest; longitudinal

When raising their children, couples often focus more time and energy on parenting and less time nurturing their relationship with each other. For this reason, the eventual departure of children from the family home, known as the transition into an empty nest, can be difficult for couples as they learn how to step back from roles as parental caregivers and adapt to daily life as "just" relationship partners. Indeed, the divorce rate among couples who have recently transitioned into an empty nest may be higher today than ever. Moreover, even couples who remain together after their children's departure from the home frequently recall this transition as a challenging time that strained their emotional connection with one another. Because couples' relationship quality during mid-life can have lasting effects on their happiness, health, and well-being in later life, a better understanding of couples' ability to maintain a strong and healthy relationship during this normative transition is needed.This project investigates how and why couples’ relationship appraisals and day-to-day interactions change across the empty nest transition period through a longitudinal, multi-method study examining couples whose last or only child is departing the home (i.e., couples completing their transition into an empty nest) and couples whose first child is departing the home (i.e., couples just beginning the launching phase). Couples will be assessed via questionnaires and daily surveys administered both before and after their children leave the family home, for a total of five waves of data collection over a three-year period. Building on the idea that relational transitions are pivotal periods that can instigate either relationship growth or decay, this project offers new perspectives on which couples may thrive and which couples may struggle during the empty nest transition. It is proposed that although the transition into an empty nest should provide couples with more opportunities to engage in shared activities and rekindle their relationship, this period may also be characterized by sudden increases in feelings of uncertainty and ambivalence that can hinder positive interactions and increase daily conflict between partners. The extent to which couples experience the benefits versus the costs of this transition may depend on several individual, relational, and contextual factors, such as parents' experience of role loss or identity disruption during this time, the nature of the parent-child relationship, the cultural values held within the family, and the stressful life circumstances (e.g., financial hardships, caring for elderly parents) couples are facing at the time. By identifying the conditions that foster a more successful rather than strained transition, this work not only enhances understanding of why transitional periods may be challenging for couples, but also can shed light on improving adults' quality of life as they grow older.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在抚养孩子时，夫妻通常将更多的时间和精力集中在育儿上，而彼此之间的关系则更少。因此，对于夫妻来说，最终将孩子从家庭住宅（称为空巢过渡为空巢的过渡）离开，因为他们学会了如何从作为父母照顾者的角色退后一步，并以“正义”的关系伙伴的身份适应日常生活。的确，最近已经过渡为空巢的夫妇的离婚率可能比以往任何时候都更高。此外，即使是在孩子离开家后在一起的夫妻，也经常回想起这种过渡，这是一个挑战时期，他们彼此之间的情感联系紧张。因为夫妻在中年期间的关系质量可能会对他们的幸福，健康和以后的福祉产生持久影响，因此需要更好地理解夫妻在这种正常过渡期间保持牢固健康关系的能力。该项目调查了夫妇的关系评估以及为什么在整个巢穴过渡过程中，夫妇的关系评估以及为什么持久的纽约互动均在较长的过程中进行了多个研究，而多人研究了多个研究，而多人研究了多个coutinine coutine coutine counine coutine coutine coutine cou cou cou cou cou cou cou authers of the thay neft the thay nefterion this never tha （即，夫妻完成过渡到空巢的夫妻）以及第一个孩子离开房屋的夫妻（即，夫妻只是开始发射阶段）。有人提出，尽管关系过渡是可以促进关系增长或衰减的关键时期的想法，但该项目提供了新的观点，夫妻可能会蓬勃发展，并且在空巢过渡期间夫妇可能会挣扎。过渡到空巢中应该为夫妻提供更多的机会来进行共同的活动并重新建立他们的关系，这一时期也可能是突然增加的不确定性和矛盾情绪的增加，这可能会阻碍积极的互动并增加伴侣之间的每日冲突。夫妻在多大程度上与这种过渡的成本相比，可能取决于几个个人，关系和上下文因素，例如在此期间父母对角色丧失或身份破坏的经验，亲子关系的性质，家庭内部的文化价值观的性质，家庭内部的文化价值观以及压力大的生活环境（例如，年龄较大的父母）面对时代。通过确定促进更成功而不是紧张过渡的条件，这项工作不仅可以增强对夫妻的过渡时期可能具有挑战性的理解，而且还可以揭示出改善成年人随着年龄较大的增长而改善成年人的生活质量。这项奖项反映了NSF的法规任务，这反映了通过基金会的知识优点和广泛的crietia的评估来表现出色，并且被视为珍贵的支持。