Individual and contextual correlates of marital change across the transition to parenthood.

Abstract

To explore multiple prenatal antecedents and postnatal correlates of change in marital adjustment and satisfaction in men and women across the transition to parenthood, 102 couples from diverse sociocultural backgrounds were studied longitudinally from pregnancy to the 9th postpartum month. Guided by an ecological model, the pre-and postnatal assessments included questionnaires of marital adjustment, personality traits, attitudes toward parenthood, work role centrality, social support, as well as observations and ratings of infant behaviors, maternal and paternal behaviors, and marital communication. Fathers' caregiving behaviors and play and affiliative behaviors were the most powerful, positive predictors for both spouses. Additional positive predictors for women were personality traits of impulse control and non-Western ethnicity, whereas negative predictors were work role centrality and personality trait of autonomy. Additional predictors for men were personality trait of affiliation and a low level of maternal involvement in caregiving.

Father Involvement and Marital Relationship during Transition to Parenthood: Differences between Dual and Single-Earner Families

“…Cowan and Cowan (2000) reported similar results, but here the negative effect of parenthood on the partners' relationship was mainly mitigated by the degree of discrepancy between prenatal expectations and actual father involvement, that is, the violated expectations described by Belsky (1985). It seems that violated expectations of father involvement in childrearing are especially critical for the development of marital quality, so caring for the baby produces most of the new and pressing demands that partners face when becoming parents (Feldman, 2000;goldberg & PerryJenkins, 2004;Levy-Shiff, 1994).…”

“…However, this argument does not explain the decrease in marital satisfaction experienced by father 1 . As Levy-Shiff (1994) remarks, a decrease in the father's satisfaction may have two complementary explanations. On the one hand, a greater amount of time spent caring for her baby may be linked to a reduction in a mother's involvement in her marital relationship, and these changes may affect the father negatively.…”

“…There is empirical evidence that father involvement is a factor clearly linked to the decrease in marital satisfaction during the transition to parenthood. In the analysis carried out by Levy-Shiff (1994); Levy-Shiff and Israelashvili (1988), the degree and extent of the decrease in marital satisfaction was mainly explained by the level of father's participation in childrearing. Cowan and Cowan (2000) reported similar results, but here the negative effect of parenthood on the partners' relationship was mainly mitigated by the degree of discrepancy between prenatal expectations and actual father involvement, that is, the violated expectations described by Belsky (1985).…”

The transition to parenthood: Stress, resources, and gender differences in a Chinese society

“…In the context of parenthood transition, research has found that how couples deal with the allocation of childcare and other household chores was a strong predictor of adaptation. Issues such as paternal involvement (Levy-Shiff, 1994), violated expectations for the sharing of responsibilities (Hackel & Ruble, 1992), and the process of decision making (Osofsky & Culp, 1989) are all predictive of marital satisfaction for both sexes.…”

Stress parental no período pós-parto: Adaptação do Parental Stress Inventory para a população portuguesa

“…De facto, embora nem todas as mulheres reportem um decrés-cimo da satisfação conjugal depois do nascimento e algumas reportem mesmo um aumento (Delmore-Ko et al, 2000), tem sido consistentemente demonstrado que a satisfação conjugal materna declina quando as expectativas pré-natais não são confirmadas (Levitt et al, 1994). Há também evidência de que, em termos médios, os homens reportam menor decréscimo da satisfação conjugal do que as mulheres (Levy-Shiff, 1994;Dulude et al, 2002) Para além da vida doméstica, o nascimento de um filho implica frequentemente mudanças importantes noutras áreas, tais como finanças, actividades de lazer, relação com os familiares e amigos, e vida profissional, que afectam também os novos pais. No estudo de Ausloos (1996), todos os casais relataram ter passado por um período de crise pessoal durante os primeiros seis meses pós-parto.…”