The Impact of Family Resources and Satisfaction with Division of Labour on                 Coping and Worries after the Birth of the First Child

Wicki, Werner

doi:10.1080/016502599383900

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Maternal reports of parenting stress, depression and worry are lower when couple relationship satisfaction is high and when women perceive their male partner as supportive (Feldman et al 1997;Florsheim et al 2003;Wicki 1999). If maternal depression does develop, recovery is predicted by a satisfying and supportive couple relationship (Pope et al 1998).…”

Section: Couple Relationships and Parenting Of Infantsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Couple Psychoeducation for New Parents: Observed and Potential Effects on Parenting

Halford

Petch

2010

Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev

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The transition to parenthood is a substantial challenge for many couples, and the extent to which the partners can support each other and their relationship is strongly related to the sensitivity and responsiveness of their parenting of their infant. This paper critically analyses the links between the couple relationship and parenting of infants and reviews the research evaluating couple psychoeducation (CP) to assist couples' parenting of their infant. It is concluded that CP has considerable potential to enhance couples' adaptation to parenthood and enhance the sensitivity and responsiveness of parenting of new infants.

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Section: Couple Relationships and Parenting Of Infantsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Couple Psychoeducation for New Parents: Observed and Potential Effects on Parenting

Halford

Petch

2010

Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev

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“…Another reason is that parents with more disposable income are likely to buy services that help to reduce the amount of family work that has to be divided among the partners (Wicki 1999), so that high satisfaction with financial resources is related to less parenting strain. Wicki (1999) studied 164 couples in Switzerland on the impact of family resources and satisfaction with division of labour on coping and worries after the birth of the first child.…”

Section: Financial Worriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wicki (1999) studied 164 couples in Switzerland on the impact of family resources and satisfaction with division of labour on coping and worries after the birth of the first child. She found that the mothers' perception of family resources and their worries were both affected by the couples' satisfaction with the division of labour, which in turn was related to the perception of financial resources.…”

Section: Financial Worriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress experiences of parents with premature infants in a special care nursery

Lau

Morse

2003

Stress and Health

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This project is a controlled prospective longitudinal study of stress experiences of parents with premature infants born from 30-35 weeks gestation being cared for in a tertiary special care nursery (SCN). Sixty mothers and 59 fathers of premature infants and 60 mothers and fathers of term infants were recruited into the study. A range of repeated selfreports and biochemical markers of stress (cortisol and tribulin) were carried out on 5 measuring times through approximately a total of 24 weeks for parents of premature infants and 17 weeks for parents of term infants.Parents of premature infants reported higher stress levels than parents of term infants within the first week of infant's birth but had lower biochemical markers of stress. The stressors perceived by these parents in a SCN were appearance and behaviour of the infants and the delayed in performing the parental role. Parents used both emotion-and problemfocused coping strategies to deal with the stressful events.A follow-up telephone interview of these parents a year after the birth of their premature infant found that most parents expressed the experience as positive. A few parents were concerned over the neurodevelopmental and cognitive outcomes of their infants. Implications for clinical practice were discussed.

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“…This finding makes some sense, given that prior studies have established that in certain families, mothers respond negatively when fathers take on greater parenting involvement with young infants than mothers had envisioned (e.g., Goldberg & Perry-Jenkins, 2004;Hackel & Ruble, 1992). Hence, we saw the value in directly examining the relationship between the extent to which parents' prenatal wishes about childcare involvement were violated, and the nature and quality of observed coparenting dynamics that had begun to consolidate in their family.Although there have been some interesting perspectives on men's expectancies about and involvement in childcare labor, no consensus has emerged as to whether expectancy violations among men hold the same psychological salience as do expectancy violations for women (e.g., Blair & Hardesty, 1994;Cowan & Cowan, 1988;Croghan, 1991;Grote & Clark, 2001; HelmsErikson, 2001;Wicki, 1999). Perhaps this is because mothers are the ones who generally anticipate assuming less childcare-related work than they ultimately end up taking on while fathers generally end up doing less than they had predicted prenatally (e.g., Belsky, 1985;Ruble et al, 1988).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although there have been some interesting perspectives on men's expectancies about and involvement in childcare labor, no consensus has emerged as to whether expectancy violations among men hold the same psychological salience as do expectancy violations for women (e.g., Blair & Hardesty, 1994;Cowan & Cowan, 1988;Croghan, 1991;Grote & Clark, 2001;HelmsErikson, 2001;Wicki, 1999). Perhaps this is because mothers are the ones who generally anticipate assuming less childcare-related work than they ultimately end up taking on while fathers generally end up doing less than they had predicted prenatally (e.g., Belsky, 1985;Ruble et al, 1988).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Violated wishes about division of childcare labor predict early coparenting process during stressful and nonstressful family evaluations

Khazan

McHale

DeCourcey

2008

Infant Mental Health Journal

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Prior research has indicated that expectant parents overestimate the extent to which fathers will take part in the "work" of parenting, with mothers often becoming disenchanted when these expectations are violated following the baby's arrival. In this study, we examine the role of violated wishes concerning childcare involvement in accounting for variability in maternal and paternal marital satisfaction, and in early coparenting behavior as assessed during family-interaction sessions. The results indicate possible negative effects of violated wishes on the enacted family process and confirm previous findings regarding the effects of marital satisfaction. In addition, we uncovered differences in the way that violated maternal wishes are related to coparenting during playful and mildly stressful family interactions.A small, but consistent, body of research has reliably documented the relevance of first-time parents' prenatal wishes and expectancies about family life after the birth of the baby in predicting adjustment quality following the baby's arrival (e.g., Delmore-Ko, Pancer, Hunsberger, & Pratt, 2000;Goldberg & Perry-Jenkins, 2004;Hackel & Ruble, 1992;Kach & McGhee, 1982;Kalmuss, Davidson, & Cushman, 1992;McHale et al., 2004;Ruble, Fleming, Hackel, & Stangor, 1988;Van Egeren, 2004). Most studies indicate that parents-to-be expect a far more egalitarian division of household and childcare labor than will typically ever eventuate (Cowan & Cowan, 1992). In fact, more than one third of all women in a sample reported on by Ruble et al. (1988) expected a fully egalitarian division of labor, and so not surprisingly, many had to confront a significant violation of their prepartum expectations after the baby's arrival. Men, too, are overly optimistic; Belsky (1985) found that the bias anticipating that fathers will be equitably involved in childcare is shown by both parents.Most studies of violated expectancies document consistent negative effects on postpartum marital adjustment. For example, Belsky (1985) reported that especially unrealistic expectations about division of labor in childcare tasks or about the effect that the baby would have on the couple's own relationship and on their relationships with family and friends predicted greater marital dissatisfaction during the early postpartum months. Ruble et al. (1988) found that women assuming significantly more of the house-and childcare burden than anticipated reported the most negative feelings about their husbands' involvement in these tasks, and were more negative when evaluating the effect of the baby on their marital relationship. Hackel and Ruble (1992) showed that women highly wed to prebirth expectations about division of labor reported more negative change in marital satisfaction after transitioning to new parenthood than did women with less prenatal commitment to their expectations.Beyond predicting general declines in marital satisfaction, violated expectations regarding division of childcare-related tasks may have more insidious effects in ...

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The Impact of Family Resources and Satisfaction with Division of Labour on Coping and Worries after the Birth of the First Child

Cited by 16 publications

References 40 publications

Couple Psychoeducation for New Parents: Observed and Potential Effects on Parenting

Couple Psychoeducation for New Parents: Observed and Potential Effects on Parenting

Stress experiences of parents with premature infants in a special care nursery

Violated wishes about division of childcare labor predict early coparenting process during stressful and nonstressful family evaluations

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