functioning over the transition to parenthood or increased their functioning. These

couples included those who had confronted the conflict and reached resolution through

discussion and agreement, as well as those who had expressed negative and critical affect

during the task. The majority of couples (although not all) who did not resolve the

conflicts during the task stayed consistently low functioning or decreased their

functioning after they had a child. This group included couples who tended to withdraw

from the conflict, as well as those who expressed negative and critical affect but did not

reach a resolution.

 Research by Paley and her associates (2005) discovered a similar distinction

between constructive and destructive conflict among new parents. Their longitudinal

study of 138 couples transitioning to parenthood examined the interaction between

parents' attachment style and conflict behaviors, and their subsequent influence on family

interactions. Couples completed marital problem-solving tasks over four assessments,

during the mother's pregnancy and when the couple's baby was 3 months, 12 months,

and 24 months old. The parents and their child also completed a family interaction play

task at the 24 month assessment. The researchers found conflict engagement (even

seemingly negative engagement) was more favorable than conflict avoidance. Parents'

withdrawal during conflict predicted less positive family interactions than did negative

escalation during conflict. However, this pattern was dependent on whether the husbands

had secure or insecure attachment patterns. Family interactions were more negative when

fathers with insecure attachments were in marriages where negative escalation of conflict

occurred. In contrast, negative escalation of conflict for couples including a husband with

a secure attachment did not detract from the quality of family interactions. In fact, the