Gender (in)equality at the kitchen table: A diary study on how Parents' coordination facilitates an equal task division and relationship quality.

Although women's labour force participation has increased, women still lag behind in financial independence and men in spending time on parenting. Insight in individuals' explicit conversations with their partner about how to coordinate daily household, childcare and paid work may help to overcome these persistent inequalities. Using a daily diary design, the present study examined to what extent daily conversations with the partner about household, childcare and paid work can boost a more equal, fair task division and relationship quality among Dutch mothers and fathers in a heterosexual relationship (N = 1235 daily reported conversations nested in 157 participants; 66.2% female). Mixed model results showed that (1) on days when participants conversed more with their partner about household tasks, they reported a more egalitarian task division and higher satisfaction with and fairness of the task division, and higher relationship quality (2) this higher daily satisfaction with and perceived fairness of the task division (but not egalitarianism) were, in turn, associated with higher relationship quality and (3) conversations had limited spill-over effects to the next day, stressing the importance of daily coordination. Together, these findings imply that daily household coordination helps parents to overcome traditional gender roles and align with their desired work/family division.

Autonomy in Relatedness: How Need Fulfillment Interacts in Close Relationships.

A driving force of relationship maintenance is the fulfillment of basic psychological needs, in particular, the needs for relatedness and autonomy. Until now, research has considered the fulfillment of relatedness and autonomy needs as independent determinants of relationship functioning or as one merged construct called need fulfillment. Little is known about how motivational states interact, even though partners possess and pursue multiple needs at a time in everyday life. Combining theoretical insights from self-determination theory and family systems theory, we test the hypothesis that relatedness and autonomy need fulfillment interact to affect relationship maintenance behavior. In three studies (N = 388, N = 241, and N = 220), we found that relatedness was positively related to accommodation, but especially (or only) when participants reported high, rather than low, autonomy. This research emphasizes the importance of maintaining a sense of self while being closely connected to the partner.

Imitating the Risky Decision-Making of Peers: An Experimental Study Among Emerging Adults.

This experiment examined whether emerging adults imitate the risky decision-making of peers and whether peer susceptibility functions as a moderator. Overall, 63 emerging adults participated with a confederate of the same gender. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (confederate engaged in risky decision-making) or control (confederate did not engage in risky decision-making) condition. Risky decision-making was measured with the Stop-Light Game task, and peer susceptibility was measured with a questionnaire. Linear regression analyses showed that the participants engaged in more risky decision-making when the peer displayed risky decision-making. Peer susceptibility was not found to be a significant moderator of this relationship. The findings showed that health education programs need to consider imitation to reduce the risky decision-making of emerging adults more effectively.

Parents' experiences and needs regarding physical and occupational therapy for their young children with cerebral palsy.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the experiences and needs of parents of young children (aged 2-4 years) with cerebral palsy (CP) regarding their child's physical and occupational therapy process in a rehabilitation setting. METHODS: A qualitative design was used involving semi-structured interviews with 21 parents of young children with CP. Interviews were conducted until informational redundancy was achieved. RESULTS: Three major themes were identified: Information, communication and partnership. A fourth, overarching theme emerged: The process of parent empowerment. Experiences and needs differed between parents and changed over time. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that various themes play a key role in the experiences and needs of parents of young children with CP. The identified themes provide important insights into how and why service providers might change their approach. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Becoming empowered is a dynamic process for parents, in which both parents and service providers play a role. Service providers should continually adapt their role to parents' needs of information, communication and partnership, and they should support and facilitate parents in becoming empowered. For that, service providers should be educated on the process of parent empowerment, on ways to facilitate this process and on the importance of involving and interacting with parents. This allows families of young children with CP to be provided with services that best suit their needs.