Marriage, Adult Adjustment, and Early Parenting

Abstract

The impact of parents' marriages, measured prenatally, on their parenting of firstborn, 3-month-old infants was assessed. Though the association between marriage and parenting was the focus, adult psychological adjustment was measured also to rule out the alternative hypothesis that psychological adjustment relates to both marital quality and parenting quality and accounts for any association between them. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses in which parental adjustment was entered first as a covariate were used to test the relation between close/confiding marriages and parenting of 3-month-old infants. From the findings, it was concluded that even when differences in individual psychological adjustment are taken into account, mothers are warmer and more sensitive with their infants and fathers hold more positive attitudes toward their infants and their roles as parents when they are in close/confiding marriages. It is asserted that qualities of marriage play an important part in the development of parent-child relationships.

Predictors of Parenting Stress in Patients with Haematological Cancer

“…In fact, spousal support has been shown to influence parenting even after controlling for psychological adjustment (Cox, Owen, Lewis, & Henderson, 1989), and spousal support is positively correlated with paternal competence and maternal satisfaction with parenting (Parke, 1986). The parenting alliance refers to the way in which spouses provide support and show respect for each other in parental roles and is separate from other components of the marriage that are not related to parenting (Guidubaldi & Cleminshaw, 1989).…”

Parents' convergence on sharing and marital satisfaction, father involvement, and parent-child relationship at the transition to parenthood

“…In the past two decades, research on the transition to parenthood examined developments within and between the family subsystems. Studies demonstrated that the marital quality declines, the emerging mother -child and father -child interactive systems are associated with the marital quality, and father involvement in the daily routines of childcare is an important buffer against maternal stress and marital decline at the transition to parenthood (Belsky & Pensky, 1988;Cowan & Cowan, 1992;Cox, Owen, Lewis, & Henderson, 1989;Feldman, Nash, & Aschenbrenner, 1983;Heinicke, 1984;Levy-Shiff, 1994). Father involvement appears to serve an important function at this critical period in the evolution of families, contributing to the marital, father -child, and mother -child relational systems (Belsky, Rovine, & Fish, 1989;Levy-Shiff & Israelashvili, 1988;Ruble, Hackel, Fleming, & Stangor, 1988).…”

Mother–Father–Child Triadic Interaction and Mother–Child Dyadic Interaction: Gender Differences Within and Between Contexts

“…For example, researchers have found that within the family boys are more likely than girls to be exposed to interparental conflict and quarreling (Cox, Owen, Lewis, & Henderson, 1989;Grych & Fincham, 1990). Likewise, McHale (1995) found that boys from maritally distressed families were more likely to experience competitive interaction between parents during triadic play, whereas girls were more likely to experience discrepancies in mother and father involvement.…”