This study sought to better understand change in marital conflict by examining 65 first time, dual-earner mothers’ and fathers’ responses to the Marital Agendas Protocol (MAP) (Notarius & Vanzetti, 1983) at nine months and seven and a half years postpartum. Specifically, this study used Pearson correlations and independent samples t-tests to address the following questions: 1) do mothers’ and fathers’ ratings of problematic issues in their relationship remain stable over time, 2) were there gender differences between mothers’ and fathers’ ratings of problematic issues in their relationship, 3) were mothers’ and fathers’ ratings of problematic issues in their relationship associated. Results indicated that of the 14 potential issues listed on the MAP survey, mothers had eight remain stable (money, in-laws, sex, religion, alcohol and drugs, work/careers, rec/free time and friends) and 6 increase in severity (commitment to the relationship, communication, child, household tasks, jealousy and trust, and time spent together) from nine months to seven and a half years postpartum. Fathers had ten remain stable (money, in-laws, sex, religion, alcohol and drugs, commitment to the relationship, work/careers, household tasks, rec/free time, and friends) and four increase in severity (communication, child, jealousy and trust, and time spent together) from nine months to seven and a half years postpartum. Additionally, mothers and fathers tended to be similar in their rankings of problematic issues by time point more than within person over time. If marital conflict stability and change over the early years of parenthood can be better understood, data can be used by interventionists to provide conflict resolution skills to couples facing marital conflict.The New Parents Project is funded by The National Science Foundation (CAREER 0746548 to Schoppe- Sullivan), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K01 HD056238 to Kamp Dush), and OSU’s Institute for Population Research.I would like to thank The Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) at The Ohio State University for funding my research experience.Academic Major: Psycholog
