A Qualitative Multiple Case Study of the Division of Labor across the Transition to Parenthood in South-Brazilian Families

Coparenting across the transition to parenthood: Qualitative evidence from South-Brazilian families.

“…Although fathers affirmed and valued mothers' competence and contributions in parenting, at times they did not support maternal decisions and parental agreements, or disparaged the mother, considering her excessively anxious. One possible explanation relates to traditional gender-role beliefs regarding greater maternal ability in childcare (Schmidt et al, 2019), coupled with a sacralization of motherhood in South American countries (Murray, 2015), which may make it difficult for fathers to express undermining by criticizing mothers' competence. These fathers may also recognize greater maternal engagement in parenting activities, which is expected in families with infants (Yavorsky et al, 2015), presenting more positive views of mothers' parenting compared to mothers' views of fathers' parenting (Gallegos et al, 2020).…”

“…Even though a decline in relationship satisfaction across the TtoP is typical for both women and men, new mothers’ lives may change more dramatically than new fathers’ lives, due to pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding, and their typical roles as primary caregivers for infants (Lévesque et al, 2020; Schmidt et al, 2019). In different-sex couples, roles become more traditional post-transition, with women spending more time in childcare and men spending more time in the paid labor force (Yavorsky et al, 2015); this gender specialization is linked to a greater decline in relationship quality, especially for mothers.…”

“…Greater paternal engagement with children may enhance both partners’ adjustment to the TtoP (Lévesque et al, 2020; Schmidt et al, 2019), and is associated with stronger coparenting relationships (Jia & Schoppe-Sullivan, 2011). However, some mothers struggle to allow fathers to share parenting more equally and may harbor beliefs or engage in behaviors that discourage paternal engagement (Olsavsky et al, 2020).…”

“…Vast social inequality is another feature of this nation, however, with the HDI varying widely among cities (from 0.42 to 0.86; United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], 2013). Although within each Brazilian region there are urban and rural differences (Tudge et al, 2018), the Southeast and South are wealthier compared to the impoverished Northeast and North (Schmidt et al, 2019). Rio Grande do Sul is the Southern-most state in Brazil.…”

Longitudinal Qualitative Methods in Health Behavior and Nursing Research: Assumptions, Design, Analysis and Lessons Learned

“…LQR’s distinction is in its aim to understand an experience or behavior(s) across time; explicitly seeking to answer, “how did this change?” “how is this different?” “why did this change?” and/or “what remains the same?” ( Saldaña, 2003 ). LQR designs have been applied in a variety of research areas including, transitions in human development ( Schmidt et al, 2019 ), the experiences of incarceration ( Cooper et al, 2015 ), aging ( Oosterveld-Vlug et al, 2013 ) and the progression of chronic illness ( Namukwaya et al, 2017 ), as well as behavioral research investigating medication adherence ( Salter et al, 2014 ; Weiser et al, 2017 ) and breastfeeding ( Doherty et al, 2006 ; Jardine et al, 2017 ). LQR may be applied to understand any human experience, as well as its sequalae and is particularly well suited for studying transition periods and developmental or behavioral changes across time.…”