A Meta‐analytic Study of Couple Interventions During the Transition to Parenthood

The present meta‐analysis integrates results of 21 controlled couple‐focused interventions with expectant and new parents. The interventions had, on average, small effects on couple communication (d = .28 standard deviation units) and psychological well‐being (d = .21), as well as very small effects on couple adjustment (d = .09). Stronger effects emerged if the intervention included more than five sessions, included an antenatal and postnatal component, and was led by professionals rather than semiprofessionals.     

Adult attachment at the transition to motherhood: predicting worry,health care utility and relationship functioning

Primary objective: To study (a) the associations between attachment styles, worry, and care utilisation in third trimester of first pregnancy (n = 567) and (b) the associations between third trimester attachment style and one year postpartum relationship satisfaction and parenting stress (n = 1069). Based on Bowlby’s attachment theory, we expected attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance to differ with regard to short-term appraisal of threat and interpersonal neediness, while the dimensions were expected to have similar deteriorating effect on longer-term outcomes in relationship functioning. Research design: A cross-sectional study nested within a randomised controlled trial. Methods and procedures: An assessment battery consisting of three scales at T1 and T2. Main outcome and results: Results confirmed that attachment anxiety was significantly associated with high pregnancy worry compared to attachment avoidance. None of the dimensions were associated with health care utility. Both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were associated with high parenting stress at one year postpartum, while only attachment anxiety was associated with low relationship satisfaction. Conclusion: These findings partly confirm conceptual distinctions between the two attachment dimensions, and point to adult attachment as an important factor in understanding the ways women cope with the challenges during the transition to motherhood.     

The socio-cultural and biological meaning of parenthood

Parenting a child is one of the most universal, common and fundamental assumptions the majority of men and women make from an early age about their future. This common and historic assumption was challenged in modernized Western societies in the 1960s with the opportunities for ‘mass control’ of reproduction and then again supported in the 1980s with the advance of ‘mass enhancement’ of reproduction. This study qualitatively assessed the meaning of parenthood of post modern British individuals of different ages, gender, cultural backgrounds and parity. The results of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analyses revealed a number of common ideologies about parenthood, and a number of specific age, gender, parity and cultural differences in how individuals interpret and experience parenthood. These individual differences play a significant part in the quality of life of people gaining or losing the opportunity to parent, as has been discussed ‘around the globe’ by Frank van Balen and his team, and must be considered in counselling people faced with decisions which challenge their personal and universal assumptions to parent a genetically related child.     

Reflections on fertility and postponed parenthood—interviews with highly educated women and men without children in Sweden

Background Different reasons influence the current low birth-rate and the postponement of the birth of the first child throughout Europe. The aim of this study was to explore how highly educated women and men in Sweden reflect on fertility and postponed parenthood.Methods We interviewed women (n = 22) and men (n = 18) who had started their professional careers and still had no children. Data were analysed with qualitative content analysis.Results Fertility was perceived as an unconsidered capacity, sometimes unpredictable, and different for women and men, but nevertheless taken for granted. The participants were of the opinion that fertility could be restored by assisted reproductive technologies or replaced by alternatives to a biological child. Postponed parenthood was described as an adaptation to societal changes and current discourses about parenthood as well as a consequence of a contemporary lifestyle with many competing priorities.Conclusion Highly educated young women and men in contemporary Sweden have competing priorities when planning and setting goals for their lives, and having children is one of them. They describe fertility as an imperceptible and retrievable capacity and postponed parenthood as a rational adaptation to changes in society. These findings suggest that increased information about the limitations of human reproduction is needed, but also that societal support for younger parents is of utmost importance.     

Going back to work after childbirth: women’s lived experiences

Objective: The study aimed at understanding the experiences of first-time mothers who returned to work after paid maternity leave. It explored the challenges new mothers faced during the transition of having a baby, taking 14 weeks of paid maternity leave and then returning to work. Background: Traditionally women left paid employment and stayed at home while their children were still young, but recent times have seen a change in local women’s labour force participation and the actual lived experiences of Maltese women in the context of transition to parenthood had not been explored. Society still seems to expect that the idea of balancing work and family life is principally a women’s issue as traditional gender roles still appear to prevail. Methods: The qualitative paradigm was used to conduct the study by means of a semi-structured interview schedule at three different phases throughout the experience. Ten women were chosen to participate in this study by purposive sampling. The theoretical framework used to guide this thesis included phenomenology, transitional theory as described by van Gennep and feminism. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used during the analysing phase. Results: The resulting three super-ordinate themes identified how after childbirth maternity leave is ‘a time of preparation and planning ahead’ followed by a period when ‘lightening strikes on rejoining the workforce’ and ‘weathering the storm’ via an attempt to balance work and family life. Conclusion: Findings showed that while society encourages mothers to return to work after the birth of their children, few attempts have actually been made to support them during this delicate transition. This study identified the need to improve local policy with regards to family-friendly measures and the importance of an increase in local maternity leave duration. Moreover, the midwife was identified as an important figure that can help empower mothers and prepare them for what is yet to come.     

The effects of pregnancy complications on the parental adaptation process

The current study examined the effects of high-risk pregnancies on the adaptation process of parents of full-term healthy infants. Gender similarities and differences were also addressed to determine the adaptation process of parents who experience a high-risk pregnancy. The sample consisted of 68 high-risk and 59 low-risk pregnancy couples, making a total of 254 new parents. Questionnaires measuring general issues related to the parental adaptation process as well as several specific components dealing with parental role attainment were administered. An effect of risk status and gender was detected on the parental adaptation process. The experience of high obstetrical risks also appeared to have an effect on the perception of life changes and on the development of a sense of competence among parents. Moreover, the findings demonstrated that the gender of the parent contributed to parental experience. Women experienced significantly more life changes than did men. Mothers also differed from fathers in the sense of satisfaction they experienced in their roles as parents.     

A pilot evaluation of the EMBU Scale in Japan and the USA

Cultural differences in parental attitudes and child-rearing practices among European countries have been demonstrated in previous studies using a scale for assessment of memories of upbringing (the EMBU). In this pilot study we evaluated the EMBU in two previously unstudied populations: a culturally homogenous sample from Japan (n=105) and a culturally mixed sample from Southern California (n= 73). The results suggest that, compared to European parents, Japanese parents are more emotionally distant from their children, while the Southern Californians as a group scored similarly to the Europeans. Further studies are needed in order to establish the EMBU as a transcultural tool for assessment of parental rearing behaviour.     

Predictors of postpartum adjustment

Identification of women at risk for problems in postpartum adaptation could allow interventions that might prevent difficulties. Eighty-five women were followed from the second trimester of pregnancy to 12 months postpartum. One year postnatally, 27 women were found to have low global severity index scores on the Symptom Check List (SCL-90) (less than or equal to 0.16), while 17 women had high global severity index scores (greater than or equal to 0.46). The high scoring group were also significantly more dissatisfied with their marriages and their partners. The high scorers also had significantly higher global severity index scores and lower intimacy with spouse scores when measured at 12-16 weeks gestation. The SCL-90 and the Miller Social Intimacy Scale, when used in the second trimester of pregnancy, appear to predict the women who may have adjustment problems in the postpartum period.