Esther S Kluwer
Biographic Data
| ID | 650297 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Esther S Kluwer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Esther S |
| FAMILY NAME | Kluwer |
| SIGNATURE | KLUWER E S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5318-346X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 288 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Victims’ justification of violence, support need, and help-seeking: A longitudinal study
Previous research has revealed various negative outcomes when victims of intimate partner violence justify their partner’s behavior, including reductions in self-worth and the persistence of violence. The current research tested the temporal dynamics of the justification of violence and its negative effect on the need for support and help-seeking behavior. Additionally, we explored whether victims’ level of violence justification moderates the im…
Global Ecology and Geography of Gender Equality
Proximal socio-economic drivers of gender equality tend to obscure its remote ecological origins. General systems theory predicts that the greater annual variability in daylength, temperature, and daily precipitation at higher latitudes requires greater psychosocial flexibility. We extend this prediction to gender equality as a likely consequence. Accordingly, for 87 pre-industrial societies after 1500 CE, we find more gender equality in more var…
Do Victims and Perpetrators Justify Intimate Partner Violence Even While They See It Happening in Front of Their Eyes
When intimate partner violence occurs, both victims and perpetrators may justify the violence. However, efforts to understand justifying violence typically rely on written descriptions of violent acts or are assessed well after the violence has occurred. Do victims and perpetrators justify violence even while they see it happening? A novel paradigm addressed this question in two cross-sectional studies (Study 1, N = 535 and Study 2, N = 480). Usi…
Understanding Family Dynamics Through a Neurocognitive Lens
Individual family members impact each other and the family system at the physiological, brain, behavioral, phenomenological, and social level. Previous research used established methods, such as self‐report and behavioral observation, to provide thorough insights into family dynamics. Here, we complement existing methods and argue for a neurocognitive approach in family research. Neurocognitive tools can provide detailed insights into complex fam…
Mothers’ Psychological Availability to Their Infants: Associations with Work-Related Negative Mood, Psychological Exhaustion, and Recovery Experiences
Contains fulltext : 322046.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)
Families in High-Conflict Divorces: Parent Outcomes of No Kids in the Middle
This study reports on the short-term outcomes of the multi-family group intervention “No Kids in the Middle” (NKM). NKM is aimed at decreasing parental conflicts, hostile attributions about the ex-partner, and perceived social network disapproval of the ex-partner in high-conflict divorces (HCD). Interventions such as NKM are important as persistent parental conflicts can have severe negative consequences for children. For the current study, 167 …
Relational Processes as Predictors of Relationship Satisfaction Trajectories Across the Transition to Parenthood
Objective To identify subgroups of parents with distinct patterns of change in relationship satisfaction across the transition to parenthood and predict subgroup membership from prenatal levels of relational processes. Background The average decline in relationship satisfaction that is generally found across the transition to parenthood masks the existence of subgroups of parents who show distinct patterns of change across the transition to paren…
Are intense negative emotions a risk for complex divorces? An examination of the role of emotions in divorced parents and co-parenting concerns
In this study, we examined whether regular divorces can be distinguished from complex divorces by measuring the intensity of negative emotions that divorced parents report when thinking about their ex-partner. We recruited two groups of parents: n = 136 in a regular divorce, and n = 191 in a complex divorce. Based on the existing literature, we predicted that parents in complex divorces experience more intense negative emotions than parents in re…
Machine learning uncovers the most robust self-report predictors of relationship quality across 43 longitudinal couples studies
Significance What predicts how happy people are with their romantic relationships? Relationship science—an interdisciplinary field spanning psychology, sociology, economics, family studies, and communication—has identified hundreds of variables that purportedly shape romantic relationship quality. The current project used machine learning to directly quantify and compare the predictive power of many such variables among 11,196 romantic couples. P…
Predicting adaptation to parenthood: The role of responsiveness, gratitude, and trust
The influence of positive relationship processes, specifically perceived responsiveness, felt gratitude, and felt trust, on perceived adaptation to parenthood was investigated. It was hypothesized that both higher initial levels prior to pregnancy as well as increases over time in perceived responsiveness, felt gratitude, and felt trust predicted better adaptation to parenthood. Data from a five‐wave longitudinal study of 109 newlyweds who became…
Unforgiving motivations among divorced parents: Moderation of contact intention and contact frequency
This research tests the prediction that unforgiving motivations (feelings of revenge and distance) toward the ex‐spouse are associated with less reported well‐being of divorced parents and their children when the intent to maintain contact with the ex‐partner is high rather than low. It is also predicted that unforgiving motivations are associated with more reported conflict with the ex‐partner and subsequently with less reported well‐being of th…
How work spills over into the relationship: Self‐control matters
This research investigated how and for whom experiences of the workday spill over into relationship functioning at home. Two correlational studies and one experimental study were conducted among Dutch dual‐earners with children. Moderated mediation analyses showed that work demands spill over into relationship behavior through the depletion of temporary self‐regulatory resources and subsequently a decrease in psychological availability for the pa…
Juggling work and family responsibilities when involuntarily working more from home: A multiwave study of financial sales professionals
Using multiwave survey data collected among 251 financial sales professionals, we tested whether involuntarily working more from home (teleworking) was related to higher time‐based and strain‐based work‐to‐family conflict (WFC). Employees' boundary management strategy (integration vs. segmentation) and work–family balance self‐efficacy were considered as moderators of these relationships. Data were collected one month before, three months after, …
Knock, knock, anybody home? Psychological availability as link between work and relationship
This research investigated how negative and positive residuals of the workday spill over into the partner relationship. To unravel the mechanism of this spillover, this study introduces the concept of “psychological availability,” which refers to the individual's ability and motivation to direct psychological resources at the partner. A survey was conducted among 313 Dutch dual‐earner couples with children, using dyadic data analysis to analyze b…
Parental work characteristics and time with children: The moderating effects of parent's gender and children's age
This article investigates the association between work characteristics and parent-child interaction time. In addition to studying the commonly considered working hours, the authors investigated the effects of job demands and resources such as job insecurity, autonomy and non-standard hours. Moreover, they analysed whether these associations were different for fathers than for mothers and for parents with young vs adolescent children. The authors …
Psychological Perspectives on Gender Deviance Neutralization
Item does not contain fulltext
From Partnership to Parenthood: A Review of Marital Change Across the Transition to Parenthood
The transition to parenthood is generally seen as one of the most challenging events in the early stages of marriage. But is it really that detrimental for marriage and do all couples go through the same changes? This article provides a state‐of‐the‐art review of research on marital change across the transition to parenthood. I first address to what extent the transition to parenthood affects the partner relationship. I then consider factors that…
Work Characteristics and Parent-Child Relationship Quality: The Mediating Role of Temporal Involvement
This study investigated whether the amount and nature of parent-child time mediated the association between parental work characteristics and parent-child relationship quality. We based hypotheses on the conflict and enrichment approaches, and we tested a path model using self-collected data on 1,008 Dutch fathers and 929 Dutch mothers with school-aged children. Longer working hours and less work engagement were associated with less parent-child …
Men's and women's reactions to fair and unfair treatment in relationship conflict
Evidence of gender differences in reactions to experienced fair and unfair treatment in relationship conflict was examined in 4 studies among dating, cohabiting, and married participants in The Netherlands. Using a critical incidents method and a scenario, this research provided convergent results suggesting that the relationship between fairness of treatment and affective feelings or relationship satisfaction is stronger for women than for men. …
Parental Work Demands and the Frequency of Child-Related Routine and Interactive Activities
This study examined whether the frequency of child-related activities was associated with parents' own work demands and those of their partners. In addition to parental paid working hours, we considered the parents' organizational culture and experienced job insecurity. Moreover, we differentiated between child-related routine and interactive activities. Using self-collected data on 639 Dutch couples with children, we found that paid working hour…
The Structure and Management of Conflict: Fighting or Defending the Status Quo
Although conflict and negotiation studies have examined symmetrical structures in which both parties want change, or asymmetrical structures in which one party wants change and the other to maintain the status quo, no research provided a direct comparison of both structures. Two experiments were conducted to fill this void. Results show that in asymmetrical structures challengers engage in more problem solving and more contending, have less of a …
Conflict Frequency and Relationship Quality Across the Transition to Parenthood
Longitudinal data from 293 Dutch couples were used to examine the association between conflict frequency and relationship quality across the transition to parenthood, which is known as one of the most challenging events in the early stages of marriage. More frequent conflict during pregnancy was related to lower levels of relationship quality across the transition to parenthood, and lower levels of relationship quality during pregnancy were assoc…
The Use of Questionnaires in Conflict Research
This article describes strengths and weaknesses of using questionnaires in studying conflict. We address five issues that we came across in our own research on organizations and close relationships. The first issue is that conflict is a sensitive topic which has consequences for the acquisition of participants and the response to surveys. Second, we deal with the validity of questionnaires that measure conflict behavior. The third issue concerns …
Gender-related inequalities in the division of family work in close relationships: A social psychological perspective
Item does not contain fulltext
When forgiving enhances psychological well-being: The role of interpersonal commitment
The present research addresses the question of when and why forgiving might enhance psychological well-being. The authors predict that forgiving is associated with enhanced well-being but that this association should be more pronounced in relationships of strong rather than weak commitment. This hypothesis received good support in Studies 1-3. Studies 2 and 3 addressed the issue of why forgiving might be associated with psychological well-being, …
The Division of Labor Across the Transition to Parenthood: A Justice Perspective
In a three-wave longitudinal survey among 293 couples, we studied the determinants of husbands' and wives' fairness judgments regarding the division of labor across the transition to parenthood. We tested predictions derived from the distributive justice framework that perceptions of fairness regarding the division of labor are affected by (a) wants and values, (b) social comparisons, and (c) procedural justice. The model was supported for wives …
The Marital Dynamics of Conflict over the Division of Labor
The division of labor as a source of conflict is a concern for many couples. This study goes beyond the mere prediction of the amount of marital conflict by scrutinizing the relationship between spouses' discontent with the division of labor, their conflict interaction patterns, and subsequent outcomes. In addition, it aims to explain the relationship between wives' discontent with the division of labor and their conflict avoidance by looking at …
Marital Conflict about the Division of Household Labor and Paid Work
Esther S. Kluwer, José A. M. Heesink, Evert Van de Vliert, Marital Conflict about the Division of Household Labor and Paid Work, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Nov., 1996), pp. 958-969
When forgiving enhances psychological well-being: The role of interpersonal commitment
The present research addresses the question of when and why forgiving might enhance psychological well-being. The authors predict that forgiving is associated with enhanced well-being but that this association should be more pronounced in relationships of strong rather than weak commitment. This hypothesis received good support in Studies 1-3. Studies 2 and 3 addressed the issue of why forgiving might be associated with psychological well-being, …
A theory‐based measure of conflict management strategies in the workplace
Conflict management influences individual wellbeing, group performance and organizational effectiveness. This research examined the psychometric qualities of two versions of the newly developed test for conflict handling. The lean version (Study 1 and 2) included problem solving, forcing, yielding and avoiding as distinct conflict management strategies, and the expanded version (Study 3) also included compromising. A negotiation study (Study 1) s…
Conflict Frequency and Relationship Quality Across the Transition to Parenthood
Longitudinal data from 293 Dutch couples were used to examine the association between conflict frequency and relationship quality across the transition to parenthood, which is known as one of the most challenging events in the early stages of marriage. More frequent conflict during pregnancy was related to lower levels of relationship quality across the transition to parenthood, and lower levels of relationship quality during pregnancy were assoc…
Work Characteristics and Parent-Child Relationship Quality: The Mediating Role of Temporal Involvement
This study investigated whether the amount and nature of parent-child time mediated the association between parental work characteristics and parent-child relationship quality. We based hypotheses on the conflict and enrichment approaches, and we tested a path model using self-collected data on 1,008 Dutch fathers and 929 Dutch mothers with school-aged children. Longer working hours and less work engagement were associated with less parent-child …
Juggling work and family responsibilities when involuntarily working more from home: A multiwave study of financial sales professionals
Using multiwave survey data collected among 251 financial sales professionals, we tested whether involuntarily working more from home (teleworking) was related to higher time‐based and strain‐based work‐to‐family conflict (WFC). Employees' boundary management strategy (integration vs. segmentation) and work–family balance self‐efficacy were considered as moderators of these relationships. Data were collected one month before, three months after, …
Parental Work Demands and the Frequency of Child-Related Routine and Interactive Activities
This study examined whether the frequency of child-related activities was associated with parents' own work demands and those of their partners. In addition to parental paid working hours, we considered the parents' organizational culture and experienced job insecurity. Moreover, we differentiated between child-related routine and interactive activities. Using self-collected data on 639 Dutch couples with children, we found that paid working hour…
Conflict in Intimate vs Non-Intimate Relationships: When Gender Role Stereotyping Overrides Biased Self-Other Judgment
An experiment was conducted to explore whether bias in self-other judgments pertains to conflict in intimate relationships and is overruled by gender role stereotypes in non-intimate relationships between males and females. It was predicted that when the opponent was one's intimate partner, both male and female participants would rate themselves as intending more cooperative and less competitive behavior than their partner. In non-intimate relati…
Parental work characteristics and time with children: The moderating effects of parent's gender and children's age
This article investigates the association between work characteristics and parent-child interaction time. In addition to studying the commonly considered working hours, the authors investigated the effects of job demands and resources such as job insecurity, autonomy and non-standard hours. Moreover, they analysed whether these associations were different for fathers than for mothers and for parents with young vs adolescent children. The authors …
Citizens of warmer countries are more competitive and poorer: Culture or chance
Are intense negative emotions a risk for complex divorces? An examination of the role of emotions in divorced parents and co-parenting concerns
In this study, we examined whether regular divorces can be distinguished from complex divorces by measuring the intensity of negative emotions that divorced parents report when thinking about their ex-partner. We recruited two groups of parents: n = 136 in a regular divorce, and n = 191 in a complex divorce. Based on the existing literature, we predicted that parents in complex divorces experience more intense negative emotions than parents in re…
The Structure and Management of Conflict: Fighting or Defending the Status Quo
Although conflict and negotiation studies have examined symmetrical structures in which both parties want change, or asymmetrical structures in which one party wants change and the other to maintain the status quo, no research provided a direct comparison of both structures. Two experiments were conducted to fill this void. Results show that in asymmetrical structures challengers engage in more problem solving and more contending, have less of a …
Responses to Gender Inequality in the Division of Family Work: The Status Quo Effect
How work spills over into the relationship: Self‐control matters
This research investigated how and for whom experiences of the workday spill over into relationship functioning at home. Two correlational studies and one experimental study were conducted among Dutch dual‐earners with children. Moderated mediation analyses showed that work demands spill over into relationship behavior through the depletion of temporary self‐regulatory resources and subsequently a decrease in psychological availability for the pa…
The Use of Questionnaires in Conflict Research
This article describes strengths and weaknesses of using questionnaires in studying conflict. We address five issues that we came across in our own research on organizations and close relationships. The first issue is that conflict is a sensitive topic which has consequences for the acquisition of participants and the response to surveys. Second, we deal with the validity of questionnaires that measure conflict behavior. The third issue concerns …
Marital Conflict about the Division of Household Labor and Paid Work
Esther S. Kluwer, José A. M. Heesink, Evert Van de Vliert, Marital Conflict about the Division of Household Labor and Paid Work, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Nov., 1996), pp. 958-969
The Marital Dynamics of Conflict over the Division of Labor
The division of labor as a source of conflict is a concern for many couples. This study goes beyond the mere prediction of the amount of marital conflict by scrutinizing the relationship between spouses' discontent with the division of labor, their conflict interaction patterns, and subsequent outcomes. In addition, it aims to explain the relationship between wives' discontent with the division of labor and their conflict avoidance by looking at …
Responses to Gender Inequality in the Division of Family Work: The Status Quo Effect
Conflict in Intimate vs Non-Intimate Relationships: When Gender Role Stereotyping Overrides Biased Self-Other Judgment
An experiment was conducted to explore whether bias in self-other judgments pertains to conflict in intimate relationships and is overruled by gender role stereotypes in non-intimate relationships between males and females. It was predicted that when the opponent was one's intimate partner, both male and female participants would rate themselves as intending more cooperative and less competitive behavior than their partner. In non-intimate relati…
Partners Becoming Parents: Talks from the Tavistock Marital Studies Institute
Partners Becoming Parents: Talks from the Tavistock Marital Studies Institute. Christopher Clulow (Ed.). London: Sheldon Press. 1996. 209 pp. ISBN 0-85969-739-9. $24.95 paper. The transition to parenthood is regarded as one of the most significant changes in the family life cycle. Besides joy and fulfillment, the birth of the first child entails changes that require major adjustments in couples' lives. This is even truer in contemporary society w…
The division of labor in close relationships: An asymmetrical conflict issue
This research addresses couples’reports of their (hypothetical) attempts to maintain or change a gendered division of labor through conflict interactions. Two experiments in which spouses responded to scenarios showed that spouses reported more conflict over the division of housework than conflict over paid work and child care, and that wives more often than husbands desired a change in their spouses’contribution. Spouses reported more wife‐deman…
Citizens of warmer countries are more competitive and poorer: Culture or chance
A theory‐based measure of conflict management strategies in the workplace
Conflict management influences individual wellbeing, group performance and organizational effectiveness. This research examined the psychometric qualities of two versions of the newly developed test for conflict handling. The lean version (Study 1 and 2) included problem solving, forcing, yielding and avoiding as distinct conflict management strategies, and the expanded version (Study 3) also included compromising. A negotiation study (Study 1) s…
The Division of Labor Across the Transition to Parenthood: A Justice Perspective
In a three-wave longitudinal survey among 293 couples, we studied the determinants of husbands' and wives' fairness judgments regarding the division of labor across the transition to parenthood. We tested predictions derived from the distributive justice framework that perceptions of fairness regarding the division of labor are affected by (a) wants and values, (b) social comparisons, and (c) procedural justice. The model was supported for wives …
Gender-related inequalities in the division of family work in close relationships: A social psychological perspective
Item does not contain fulltext
When forgiving enhances psychological well-being: The role of interpersonal commitment
The present research addresses the question of when and why forgiving might enhance psychological well-being. The authors predict that forgiving is associated with enhanced well-being but that this association should be more pronounced in relationships of strong rather than weak commitment. This hypothesis received good support in Studies 1-3. Studies 2 and 3 addressed the issue of why forgiving might be associated with psychological well-being, …
The Use of Questionnaires in Conflict Research
This article describes strengths and weaknesses of using questionnaires in studying conflict. We address five issues that we came across in our own research on organizations and close relationships. The first issue is that conflict is a sensitive topic which has consequences for the acquisition of participants and the response to surveys. Second, we deal with the validity of questionnaires that measure conflict behavior. The third issue concerns …
Conflict Frequency and Relationship Quality Across the Transition to Parenthood
Longitudinal data from 293 Dutch couples were used to examine the association between conflict frequency and relationship quality across the transition to parenthood, which is known as one of the most challenging events in the early stages of marriage. More frequent conflict during pregnancy was related to lower levels of relationship quality across the transition to parenthood, and lower levels of relationship quality during pregnancy were assoc…
The Structure and Management of Conflict: Fighting or Defending the Status Quo
Although conflict and negotiation studies have examined symmetrical structures in which both parties want change, or asymmetrical structures in which one party wants change and the other to maintain the status quo, no research provided a direct comparison of both structures. Two experiments were conducted to fill this void. Results show that in asymmetrical structures challengers engage in more problem solving and more contending, have less of a …
Men's and women's reactions to fair and unfair treatment in relationship conflict
Evidence of gender differences in reactions to experienced fair and unfair treatment in relationship conflict was examined in 4 studies among dating, cohabiting, and married participants in The Netherlands. Using a critical incidents method and a scenario, this research provided convergent results suggesting that the relationship between fairness of treatment and affective feelings or relationship satisfaction is stronger for women than for men. …
Parental Work Demands and the Frequency of Child-Related Routine and Interactive Activities
This study examined whether the frequency of child-related activities was associated with parents' own work demands and those of their partners. In addition to parental paid working hours, we considered the parents' organizational culture and experienced job insecurity. Moreover, we differentiated between child-related routine and interactive activities. Using self-collected data on 639 Dutch couples with children, we found that paid working hour…
From Partnership to Parenthood: A Review of Marital Change Across the Transition to Parenthood
The transition to parenthood is generally seen as one of the most challenging events in the early stages of marriage. But is it really that detrimental for marriage and do all couples go through the same changes? This article provides a state‐of‐the‐art review of research on marital change across the transition to parenthood. I first address to what extent the transition to parenthood affects the partner relationship. I then consider factors that…
Work Characteristics and Parent-Child Relationship Quality: The Mediating Role of Temporal Involvement
This study investigated whether the amount and nature of parent-child time mediated the association between parental work characteristics and parent-child relationship quality. We based hypotheses on the conflict and enrichment approaches, and we tested a path model using self-collected data on 1,008 Dutch fathers and 929 Dutch mothers with school-aged children. Longer working hours and less work engagement were associated with less parent-child …
Psychological Perspectives on Gender Deviance Neutralization
Item does not contain fulltext
Parental work characteristics and time with children: The moderating effects of parent's gender and children's age
This article investigates the association between work characteristics and parent-child interaction time. In addition to studying the commonly considered working hours, the authors investigated the effects of job demands and resources such as job insecurity, autonomy and non-standard hours. Moreover, they analysed whether these associations were different for fathers than for mothers and for parents with young vs adolescent children. The authors …
Knock, knock, anybody home? Psychological availability as link between work and relationship
This research investigated how negative and positive residuals of the workday spill over into the partner relationship. To unravel the mechanism of this spillover, this study introduces the concept of “psychological availability,” which refers to the individual's ability and motivation to direct psychological resources at the partner. A survey was conducted among 313 Dutch dual‐earner couples with children, using dyadic data analysis to analyze b…
Juggling work and family responsibilities when involuntarily working more from home: A multiwave study of financial sales professionals
Using multiwave survey data collected among 251 financial sales professionals, we tested whether involuntarily working more from home (teleworking) was related to higher time‐based and strain‐based work‐to‐family conflict (WFC). Employees' boundary management strategy (integration vs. segmentation) and work–family balance self‐efficacy were considered as moderators of these relationships. Data were collected one month before, three months after, …
Unforgiving motivations among divorced parents: Moderation of contact intention and contact frequency
This research tests the prediction that unforgiving motivations (feelings of revenge and distance) toward the ex‐spouse are associated with less reported well‐being of divorced parents and their children when the intent to maintain contact with the ex‐partner is high rather than low. It is also predicted that unforgiving motivations are associated with more reported conflict with the ex‐partner and subsequently with less reported well‐being of th…
How work spills over into the relationship: Self‐control matters
This research investigated how and for whom experiences of the workday spill over into relationship functioning at home. Two correlational studies and one experimental study were conducted among Dutch dual‐earners with children. Moderated mediation analyses showed that work demands spill over into relationship behavior through the depletion of temporary self‐regulatory resources and subsequently a decrease in psychological availability for the pa…
Predicting adaptation to parenthood: The role of responsiveness, gratitude, and trust
The influence of positive relationship processes, specifically perceived responsiveness, felt gratitude, and felt trust, on perceived adaptation to parenthood was investigated. It was hypothesized that both higher initial levels prior to pregnancy as well as increases over time in perceived responsiveness, felt gratitude, and felt trust predicted better adaptation to parenthood. Data from a five‐wave longitudinal study of 109 newlyweds who became…
Psychology (31 works) · Social Psychology (25 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (16 works) · Developmental psychology (14 works) · Work-Family Balance Challenges (14 works) · Social Psychology (13 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (12 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Political science (8 works) · Economics (7 works)