Objective This study examined whether adult children's transitions to marriage, parenthood, and divorce were related to intergenerational support exchanges. Background Intergenerational support fluctuates over the life span, often in response to major transitions, but surprisingly little research has examined longitudinally how life transitions shape the bidirectional flow of intergenerational support. Method Using data from adult children who participated in Waves 2, 4, 6, and 8 of the German Family Panel (pairfam) study, we estimated fixed effect models to explore how marital and parenthood transitions of adult children predict support exchanges between adult children and their parents (n = 5245 adult children's report of support exchanges with their mother and n = 4604 with their father; total 14,359 and 12,147 observations). Results Getting married was associated with adult children receiving less emotional support from mothers, while providing less instrumental support to their parents. Becoming a mother was associated with receiving more instrumental support from parents and receiving less material/financial support among adult children closer to their parents. When adult children became a parent, emotional and instrumental provision to mothers decreased. Getting divorced was associated with adult children receiving more emotional and material support from parents, but findings varied based on child gender and closeness with parents. Conclusion Adult children's life transitions influence patterns of support exchanged with their parents differentially based on parent–child gender composition and intergenerational closeness.

Objective Drawing on a relational developmental systems approach, this brief report examines spillover and compensation processes in self‐disclosure and conflict in adult relations with intimate partners and siblings. Background Although some studies have examined links between sibling and partner relationships during adolescence, no research has examined the link between dynamics with siblings and intimate partners in adulthood. Method This study draws on longitudinal survey data from 1,709 individuals participating in the German Family Panel (pairfam) study and latent change score modeling to answer the research questions. Results Several associations supported the spillover hypothesis: those with more self‐disclosure or conflict with their partner also tended to report more self‐disclosure or conflict with their sibling at baseline and those who experienced intraindividual reductions in self‐disclosure and conflict in one relationship over time also experienced concurrent intraindividual reductions in self‐disclosure and conflict in the other relationship. Those with higher initial levels of conflict with their partner also experienced a more gradual decrease in sibling conflicts across time. Two findings provided evidence of compensatory processes: those who reported more frequent conflicts with their partner at baseline also reported higher concurrent self‐disclosure with their sibling and those experiencing increased conflict with a partner experienced steeper declines in future sibling conflict. Conclusion These findings underscore the importance of considering spillover and compensation in adult relationships with siblings and intimate partners.

This study investigated associations between perceived stress and sexual communication, considering supportive dyadic coping as a potential mediator and whether being male or female moderated associations. Data from 2,529 couples from Wave 5 of the German Family Panel (pairfam) were used in the analyses. Structural equation modeling results showed higher levels of stress were linked with lower levels of dyadic coping and higher levels of dyadic coping were associated with higher levels of sexual communication. There was no direct association between stress and sexual communication, but there was an indirect relationship between higher levels of perceived stress and less sexual communication via supportive dyadic coping. Sex did not moderate these associations. These results highlight supportive dyadic coping as an important protective factor against the effects of perceived stress on sexual communication and call for further investigation of how couples can maintain a healthy sex life in the face of stress.

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