In this article we study the mecanisms of the transmission of socioaffective problems between two family subsystems, that is marital and parent-child relationship, under contextual stresses such as low income, and family member's characteristics such as child's age and gender. A sample of couples with or without a child allowed a first study to estimate the impact of the presence of the child on the marital relationship when the two other studies addressed the complementary issue of the impact of marital relationships on the child. Results of these studies contributed to demonstrate the interdependency of family's subsystems and underline the importance to consider each family member as source of influence on others. We also argue that an aversive response to extrafamilial stresses might lead to intrafamial relationship stresses, but the strenght of this link depends on characteristics of family members.
social development; parent-child relationship; marital relationship; transition to parenthood
