Patterns of Marital Change across the Transition to Parenthood: Pregnancy to Three Years Postpartum

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to advance the study of marital change across the transition to parenthood by moving beyond the study of central tendencies to examine variation in the matter and extent to which spouses experiences of their mates and their marital relationships changed from the last trimester of pregnancy through 3 years postpartum. Analyses of marital data collected at 4 points in time on 128 middle and working-class families rearing a firstborn child resulted in the identification of 4 distinct patterns of marital change which were labeled ACCELERATING DECLINE LINEAR DECLINE NO CHANGE and MODEST POSITIVE INCREASE. In a series of developmentally ordered discriminant function analyses efforts were made to distinguish decliners from increasers by using demographic personality and marital information collected prenatally; data on infant temperament and change in infant temperament obtained at 3 and 9 months postpartum respectively; and data on negative life events and income change collected at 3 years postpartum. Analyses revealed that patterns of marital change are determined by multiple factors and are largely identifiable prior to the infants birth. Postnatal information on infant temperament often improved the ability to discriminate marriages that declined and improved in quality across the transition to parenthood. (authors)