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Transitions to Parenthood
His, Hers, and Theirs
CAROLYN PAPE COWAN
University of California, Berkeley
PHILIP A. COWAN
University of California, Berkeley
GERTRUDE HEMING
University of California, Berkeley
ELLEN GARRETT
University of California, Berkeley
WILLIAM S. COYSH
University of California, Berkeley
HARRIET CURTIS-BOLES
University of California, Berkeley
ABNER J. BOLES, III
University of California, Berkeley
This study explores marital processes that may underlie the apparent decline in satisfaction with marriage in partners becoming parents for the first time. We assessed 47 couples expecting a first child and 15 couples not yet decided about having children at pretest, post 1 (6 months postpartum or 9 months after pretest) and post 2 (18 months postpartum or 21 months after pretest). Questionnaires examined (1) psychological sense of self; (2) partners' role arrangements and communication; (3) parenting ideology; (4) perceptions of the family of origin; and (5) social support and life stress, including parents' work patterns. Support was found for three hypotheses: (1) In four of the five family domains men and women having a first child showed more negative changes over time than nonparent spouses; (2) New fathers and mothers grew increasingly different from one another in most of these domains; (3) A combination of gender differentiation and change (increasing conflict) apparently contributed to lowered satisfaction with marriage for men and women.
Journal of Family Issues, Vol. 6, No. 4,
451-481 (1985)
DOI: 10.1177/019251385006004004
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