Interventions to Ease the Transition to Parenthood: Why They Are Needed and What They Can Do

Abstract

Men and women have been having babies since human life began. Not until the last half of the twentieth century, however, did the transition to parenthood become the subject of intensive analysis by sociologists, psychologists, and health and mental health professionals. Academicians' and health providers' interest appears to have been stimulated by a study by LeMasters (1957), a sociologist, who made the apparently shocking claim that 83 of new parents had experienced moderate or severe in their marital and family life in the first years following the birth of their first child. Using various methods and outcome measures, investigators over the next three decades challenged LeMasters' assertion that the transition to parenthood constitutes a crisis for a marriage (Hobbs, 1965; White & Booth, 1985). These investigators concluded that (a) new parenthood was a stressful but essentially manageable, normative transition (Hobbs & Cole, 1977) or (b) the decline in adjustment and marital satisfaction new parents experienced was not appreciably different from the waning of marital intimacy experienced over time by childless couples (McHale & Huston, 1985; White & Booth, 1985). Neither of these responses to LeMasters seemed to settle the controversy about crisis. After early retrospective studies, investigators in the 1980s began to follow couples from pregnancy into the early childrearing years. These longitudinal studies revealed negative changes in many aspects of men's and women's adaptation as individuals and as couples (see reviews by Belsky & Pensky, 1988; Cowan & Cowan, 1988; Worthington & Buston, 1987). Along with shifts in partners' stress levels, division of family labor, and leisure time, almost every study noted a decline in men's and women's marital satisfaction. Is the transition to parenthood likely to create long-term strain in men, women, and marriage? The answer to this question has important theoretical and practical implications. Theories of life course and family development (see Cowan, 1991; Hinde & Stevenson-Hinde, 1988) imply that major life changes and transitions create conditions of risk. New challenges can outstrip existing resources, trigger new problems, or amplify pre-existing vulnerabilities and inadequacies. Explicit in some of these theories is the idea that the challenges of transitions can also stimulate the development of new coping skills and higher levels of adaptation. The transition to parenthood is an interesting test case for lifespan developmental theories because, unlike most expected and unexpected traumatic transitions that have been studied extensively, becoming a parent is widely regarded as a positive change in the life of a couple. If the transition to parenthood does increase the probability of problematic outcomes in parents and children, then the hypothesis that life transitions constitute conditions of risk would be supported. Increased marital and family risk associated with the transition to parenthood has implications for the provision of health and mental health services. If a life transition experienced by approximately 90% of contemporary married couples can be expected to be accompanied by stress and distress for many parents, it is likely that this strain will permeate some or all of the relationships in the family, which, in turn, can be expected to compromise children's optimal development. In that case, it would seem reasonable to create targeted or even universal preventive intervention programs designed to enhance parents' coping skills and reduce their stress or to provide remedial help for couples already in difficulty when the transition begins. If there is no significant increase in risk or negative outcomes attributable to this transition, then intervention programs on a wide societal scale would be unnecessary. The first section of this article argues that, despite some remaining areas of controversy in comparing and interpreting studies, we can conclude with some confidence that the transition to parenthood constitutes a period of stressful and sometimes maladaptive change for a significant proportion of new parents. …