A Perinatal Coparenting Intervention: Effects on Parent Cardiometabolic Risk and Self-Reported Health

Objective. The transition to parenthood is a common yet stressful experience faced by many young and midlife adults, and the risk of cardiometabolic conditions also begins to rise at this time. Consequently, parenthood represents an opportune time to intervene with adults to support their psychological and physical health. Methods. We examined whether the benefits of the Family Foundations (FF) program, a perinatal preventative intervention promoting positive coparenting, extend beyond documented mental health and family relationship outcomes to better cardiometabolic risk factors among parents. We analyzed data from 183 couples who, eight years prior, were randomly assigned to the 9-session FF program or a control condition. We collected dried blood spots to measure C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and cholesterol; parents also reported on their self-rated health. Results. Randomization to the FF condition was associated with lower cholesterol (B=-.081, p=.049). Among parents who demonstrated more negative communication styles at pretest (during pregnancy), the intervention was further associated with better self-rated health (B=.181, p=.018). Participation in the FF program was also marginally associated with lower CRP (B=-.261, p=.077), particularly among mothers (B=-.428, p=.076). Conclusions. These findings indicate that coparenting-focused interventions, such as FF, can lead to benefits beyond psychosocial and behavioral outcomes, and suggest that FF may improve parents’ longer-term physical health, with potentially more benefits among couples who demonstrated more negative communication styles during pregnancy.