Relationship Behaviors across the Transition to Parenthood

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Rauch-Anderegg ◽  
Rebekka Kuhn ◽  
Anne Milek ◽  
W. Kim Halford ◽  
Guy Bodenmann
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Dyadic Coping ◽  
Relationship Education ◽  
Negative Behaviors ◽  
First Child ◽  
Negative Communication ◽  
Regulation Strategies

The transition to parenthood (TTP) often is associated with declines in couple relationship satisfaction. The current study evaluated changes in three relationship behaviors, namely communication, dyadic coping and relationship self-regulation, across the TTP and the association of those behaviors with relationship satisfaction. One hundred and three couples completed questionnaires twice before and three times after the birth of their first child. Prenatally, all behaviors were stable, except negative communication that declined. Postnatally, positive relationship behaviors decreased in both genders, and negative communication increased in men. Negative behaviors were associated with relationship satisfaction throughout the TTP. Furthermore, relationship self-regulation strategies and males’ negative dyadic coping prospectively predicted male relationship satisfaction, while men’s supportive dyadic coping predicted female relationship satisfaction. Enhancing positive relationship behaviors through relationship education programs might help couples successfully adjust to parenthood.

Mom-and-Pop Narcissism: The Impact of Attention Seeking and Grandiosity on Couples' Experience of the Transition to Parenthood

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haran Sened ◽  
Eran Bar-Kalifa ◽  
Rony Pshedetzky-Shochat ◽  
Marci Gleason ◽  
Eshkol Rafaeli
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Parental Satisfaction ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Narcissistic Personality Disorder ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Narcissistic Personality ◽  
First Child ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

Various studies have demonstrated associations between personality disorders and relationship satisfaction. The authors examine the associations between attention seeking and grandiosity, both features of narcissistic personality disorder, and relationship satisfaction before and after the transition to parenthood. The authors then expand their analysis to parental satisfaction and postpartum depression (PPD). Nonclinical couples (N = 103 couples) expecting their first child completed measures of grandiosity, attention seeking, and relationship satisfaction before birth, and of relationship satisfaction, parental satisfaction, and PPD symptoms 3 months afterward. Attention seeking was associated with less parental satisfaction and more PPD symptoms, and with less prepartum relationship satisfaction for participants' partners. For men, attention seeking was also associated with prepartum relationship satisfaction. Grandiosity was associated with a decrease in relationship satisfaction after birth, although, surprisingly with fewer PPD symptoms for participants’ partners. The authors discuss how these findings might be related to changes in social support and work–life balance during the transition to parenthood.

Understanding in transition: The influence of becoming parents on empathic accuracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 2366-2385
Author(s):  
Jerica X. Bornstein ◽  
Eshkol Rafaeli ◽  
Marci E.J. Gleason
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Negative Mood ◽  
Empathic Accuracy ◽  
Relationship Functioning ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Daily Diary Study ◽  
First Child ◽  
Relationship Partners ◽  
Life Stressor

Empathic accuracy (EA), the ability to understand a close other’s thoughts and feelings, is linked to relationship satisfaction. Yet, it is unclear whether stress interferes with relationship partners’ ability to be empathically accurate. The present study investigates whether a major life stressor, the transition to parenthood (TTP), interferes with EA between partners. In a daily diary study of 78 couples expecting their first child, couples reported on their own and their partners’ daily mood for 3 weeks during three separate time periods across the TTP: pregnancy, infancy, and toddlerhood. Both mothers and their partners demonstrated EA across the TTP. However, there was evidence that the transition interfered with EA: Partners’ ability to track mothers’ negative mood dropped significantly during infancy and remained low in toddlerhood, whereas mothers’ ability to track their partners’ positive mood dropped significantly in infancy and recovered in toddlerhood. This suggests that one way in which a major life stressor, in this case, the TTP, may interfere with relationship functioning is by decreasing couples’ understanding of each other’s mood states.

Relationship and Sexual Functioning During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mylène Lachance-Grzela
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Sexual Functioning ◽  
Postpartum Period ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Relationship Functioning ◽  
First Child ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact

There has been much debate among researchers in couple and family psychology on whether and how much the transition to parenthood affects partners’ conjugal life. This chapter provides a literature review aimed at determining what is currently known about relationship functioning and sexual functioning during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Most existing research on the subject reveals that the birth of a first child is associated with a decline in relationship satisfaction and sexual functioning. Recent data from prospective studies suggest that the transition from being a couple to being parents is actually associated with declines in relationship functioning over and above the normative declines reported by couples without children. This chapter examines the impact of individual, relational, and situational factors that have been proposed to explain this decline. Finally, the strengths and limitations of current research are discussed, and future research avenues are considered.

Practicing Academic Independence: Self-Regulation Strategies for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

2021 ◽  
pp. 107429562110206
Author(s):  
Michele L. Moohr ◽  
Kinga Balint-Langel ◽  
Jonté C. Taylor ◽  
Karen L. Rizzo
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Academic Learning ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
Regulation Strategies ◽  
And Behavior

The term self-regulation (SR) refers to a set of specific cognitive skills necessary for students to independently manage, monitor, and assess their own academic learning and behavior. Students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often lack these skills. This article provides educators with step-by-step procedures and information on three research- or evidence-based SR strategies they can implement in their classrooms: self-regulated strategy development, self-monitoring, and strategy instruction.

scholarly journals Cognitive ability and fertility among Swedish men born 1951–1967: evidence from military conscription registers

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1902) ◽  
pp. 20190359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kolk ◽  
Kieron Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Military Conscription ◽  
First Child ◽  
Parental Background ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intelligence Scores ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Educational Careers

We examine the relationship between cognitive ability and childbearing patterns in contemporary Sweden using administrative register data. The topic has a long history in the social sciences and has been the topic of a large number of studies, many reporting a negative gradient between intelligence and fertility. We link fertility histories to military conscription tests with intelligence scores for all Swedish men born 1951–1967. We find a positive relationship between intelligence scores and fertility, and this pattern is consistent across the cohorts we study. The relationship is most pronounced for the transition to a first child, and men with the lowest categories of IQ scores have the fewest children. Using fixed effects models, we additionally control for all factors that are shared by siblings, and after such adjustments, we find a stronger positive relationship between IQ and fertility. Furthermore, we find a positive gradient within groups at different levels of education. Compositional differences of this kind are therefore not responsible for the positive gradient we observe—instead, the relationship is even stronger after controlling for both educational careers and parental background factors. In our models where we compare brothers to one another, we find that, relative to men with IQ 100, the group with the lowest category of cognitive ability have 0.56 fewer children, and men with the highest category have 0.09 more children.

Adjustment of Early Parenthood

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIE A. KACH ◽  
PAUL E. McGHEE
Keyword(s):  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Early Parenthood ◽  
First Child ◽  
The Relationship

This study was designed to determine the relationship between the accuracy of preparenthood expectations about parenthood and the incidence of problems associated with the transition to parenthood. Parents who were expecting their first child in about six weeks completed a prebirth questionnaire pertaining to expectations about various dimensions of parenthood following the birth of their baby. The same questionnaire was administered two months after the birth of the baby, along with questions concerning the kinds of problems the parents had encountered. Two comparison control groups were also tested. Parents' preparenthood expectations did not differ significantly from their subsequent perceptions of parenthood. However, mothers with less accurate expectations about parenthood were most likely to have problems adjusting to parenthood. No comparable relationship was obtained for fathers. Less accurate expectations about parenthood among mothers were also associated with lower levels of preparation for parenting, higher age levels, and a greater number of years of prior marriage. Information is presented regarding the specific aspects of parenthood that mothers and fathers were least prepared for and that posed the greatest problems.

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