Individual and contextual correlates of marital change across the transition to parenthood.

Abstract

To explore multiple prenatal antecedents and postnatal correlates of change in marital adjustment and satisfaction in men and women across the transition to parenthood, 102 couples from diverse sociocultural backgrounds were studied longitudinally from pregnancy to the 9th postpartum month. Guided by an ecological model, the pre- and postnatal assessments included questionnaires of marital adjustment, personality traits, attitudes toward parenthood, work role centrality, social support, as well as observations and ratings of infant behaviors, maternal and paternal behaviors, and marital communication