Research Spotlight: Dyadic Hope in Early Parenthood

We're excited to put the spotlight this time on the paper spearheaded by Tara Zahavi-Lupo (as part of her recently completed PhD). This paper, published in 2023 in The Journal of Positive Psychology, focuses on dyadic hope in early parenthood and explores how hope functions as a shared resource within intimate relationships during the challenging transition to parenthood, using longitudinal data obtained from 100 first-time parent couples. Our analyses revealed that both daily and person-level hope were positively associated with better individual, relational, and parental outcomes for both partners, with hope also acting as a buffer against various daily stressors. As we had anticipated when we proposed this project to the Hope and Optimism Initiative and to the Templeton Foundation, hope appears to serve as both a personal and shared resource for couples navigating early parenthood, and may prove a fruitful target for interventions to support new parents.

Researchers, clinicians, or expectant/new parents who are interested in learning more about these findings or in experiencing the intervention program we went on to develop, can visit our Resources Page.

Full article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2022.2093780

Resources page link:https://eshkol2.wixsite.com/arlab-biu/hope-ttp