Personal growth in the transition to parenthood following recent parental loss.

Abstract

Objective: Although the factors associated with personal growth (PG) in the transition to parenthood have been studied in recent years, the impact of a previous stressful event has been rarely considered. This study explores the possibility that parents who lost their own parent in the years leading up to the birth of their first child will report enhanced PG. It examines the unique and combined contribution to PG in the transition to parenthood of recent parental loss, as well as the bond with the parents, the internal resource of meaning in life, and basic demographic variables. Method: Self-report questionnaires were completed by 224 Israeli parents up to 1 year following the birth of their first child. Of these, 112 had lost one of their parents during the past 7 years and 112 had not. Results: Hierarchical regression revealed that the recent loss of a parent contributed significantly to greater PG. In addition, higher PG was associated with younger age, higher presence of meaning in life, search for meaning, and perceived maternal care, and lower paternal overprotection. Conclusions: The study extends knowledge of PG among new parents, indicating that it may be related to the parent’s personal circumstances, and specifically to a previous stressful event in their lives, and their relationships with their own parents. On the practical level, understanding the consequences of parental loss for PG in the transition to parenthood can help professionals develop specially designed interventions for new parents who have recently lost a parent.

The effect of the loss of one’s own parent on the change in personal growth during the transition to parenthood: An individual growth curve model.

“…Parents who reported higher parental care reported a decrease in PD over time, which in turn was associated with an increase in PG over time, while those who reported higher maternal overprotection reported an increase in PD, which was associated with a decrease in PG. These findings confirm the importance of the parenting style to which the individual is exposed during childhood and adolescence for their experience of distress or growth as adults (Ben-Yaakov & Taubman – Ben-Ari, 2021; Grant et al, 2012; Matthey et al, 2000; Parade et al, 2014; Willinger et al, 2005). They indicate that the PG of new parents is not only affected by their current mental state, but that the seeds were planted much earlier by the type of bond they had with their own parents.…”

“…The present study provides evidence that parental care may not only contribute to the experience of PG itself, but to its increase over time as well. The finding that parents who report on higher maternal (although not paternal) overprotection experience an increase in PG is notable, as a previous study found that lower parental overprotection was associated with higher PG during the first year following the transition to parenthood (Ben-Yaakov & Taubman – Ben-Ari, 2021). Taken together, these findings suggest that during the child’s first year, which tends to be especially challenging for new parents, those who experienced parental overprotection during their own early years have a lower potential to experience PG.…”

“…Over the past few years, this concept has also begun to be explored in the context of normative and nontraumatic life events that may be perceived as stressful by the individual (Taubman – Ben-Ari, 2012; Tedeschi et al, 2018), such as the transition to parenthood (Taubman – Ben-Ari, 2012, 2019). Studies examining PG following the transition to parenthood (Berman et al, 2021; Taubman – Ben-Ari, 2012, 2019; Taubman – Ben-Ari & Spielman, 2014) have found that higher PG is related to parents’ younger age and lower education level (Taubman – Ben-Ari et al, 2013; Ben-Yaakov & Taubman – Ben-Ari, 2021; Sawyer & Ayers, 2009; Taubman – Ben-Ari, 2012), and that mothers report higher levels of PG than fathers (Ben-Yaakov & Taubman—Ben-Ari, 2021; Porat-Zyman et al, 2017; Taubman – Ben-Ari & Spielman, 2014).…”

“…In addition, it has been found that PG may develop over time from birth to 4 years after the birth (Porat-Zyman et al, 2019; Taubman – Ben-Ari et al, 2019). Furthermore, a recent study found higher PG 3–12 months following the birth of the first child among parents who experienced parental loss up to 7 years before the birth than among those who did not (Ben-Yaakov & Taubman – Ben-Ari, 2021). In the present study, we aimed to take this avenue of research a step further, examining the effect of the experience of losing a parent, combined with the bond the individual had with their own parents, on the change in the PG of new parents over time.…”

A U.S. National Study of Family Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Further, the pandemic has increased the amount of unpaid care work (e.g., childcare, elder care), which is often covered by women, many of whom are mothers (Power, 2020). However, other researchers have found that fathers but not mothers experienced a higher level of parenting stress during the pandemic compared to a year prior (Taubman-Ben-Ari et al, 2021) and that fathers of older infants may be particularly at risk for COVID-19 related anxieties (Ben-Yaakov and Taubman-Ben-Ari, 2021). Based on this mixed evidence, no hypothesis was made.…”