Motherhood and Marriage: A Response

Abstract

Key Words: equity, marital satisfaction, motherhood, religion, socioeconomic status, work. We are grateful for the thought-provoking commentary and critique of our study of marriage and the transition to motherhood (Dew & Wilcox, 2011) provided by Milkie (2011); Clements, Martin, Cassil, and Soliman (201 1); and PerryJenkins and Claxton (2011). Indeed, we hope that their commentary will spur further research and reflection on this important topic. To wit, we heartily agree with Milkie (201 1) that contemporary scholarship (and journalism) spends too much time focusing on the modest dip in marital happiness experienced by a large minority of wives (40% according to our study) rather than on a broader array of psychological outcomes associated with the transition to motherhood - from the ' 'deep and profound meaning most gain from becoming mothers to the reduced risk of depression mothers face as compared to childless women (Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2003). We also acknowledge, as Clements et al. (201 1) point out, that our study used blunt measures of marital quality and no direct measures of emotional intimacy, and it did not focus on variations in wives' experience of the transition to motherhood by race, ethnicity, and nativity (see also Perry-Jenkins & Claxton, 2011). For those reasons, among others, we welcome their call for more nuanced and fine-grained research on this important topic. Moreover, Perry- Jenkins and Claxton (2011) were right to point out that our study did not address husbands' experience of the transition to fatherhood; this is an important oversight because fathers now spend more time in child care and housework than they used to (see also Milkie, 2011) and because husbands' marital happiness across the transition to parenthood is bound to affect their wives' marital happiness across the transition to parenthood. We hope that future research on the transition to parenthood will address these important limitations in our own study. CHANGE VERSUS INITIAL LEVELS We were particularly struck, however, by our commentators' desire to have us consider the effect of baseline differences in religion and socioeconomic status on wives' transitions to motherhood and by their reflections on the possible impact of work for the marriages of new mothers. Accordingly, we reanalyzed data from the first two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to determine whether baseline religion and socioeconomic status moderates the impact of the transition to motherhood for wives and to determine whether mothers who are employed full-time with young children are more likely to avoid a decline in marital happiness than mothers who are employed part-time or who are stay-athome mothers. These new analyses also enable us to speak to issues of social isolation or solidarity, stratification, and gender equity that the commentators raised. Specifically, Clements et al. (201 1) and PerryJenkins and Claxton (2011) both suggest that we explore the main effects of initial levels of potentially important variables, such as religious attendance and socioeconomic status. Likewise, Milkie (2011) hypothesizes that higher status women might have access to more resources - both in terms of money and in terms of help from friends and family - that would make the transition to motherhood easier for them. Moreover, we think that the social and emotional support religious institutions provide to families and mothers in particular (Manning, 1999; Wilcox, 2004) may make the transition to motherhood easier for women who regularly attend religious services. Accordingly, in this commentary, we explore the possibility that religious attendance and an important marker of socioeconomic status - education - moderate wives' experience of the transition to motherhood. Milkie (201 1) and Perry- Jenkins and Claxton (2011) also reflect on the role that labor-force participation may play in the lives of new mothers. …