Does infant temperament affect couple commitment across the transition to parenthood (TTP)?
Loading...
Date
2022-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Across the transition to parenthood (TTP), couples experience changes in their relationship. Becoming a parent is typically accompanied by declines in marital satisfaction and increases in marital conflict, which may lead to lower relationship commitment. On the other hand, increases in new parents' investments in the family may strengthen parents' commitment. These inconsistent predictions suggest that it is necessary to explore different dimensions of commitment (i.e., dedication, confidence, constraint) when investigating changes in commitment across the TTP. Moreover, families are systems in which all members are interdependent, which makes it important to consider children's characteristics as factors that may influence changes in new parents' relationships. Thus, infant temperament may shape parents' investment in the family, which in turn may impact parents' commitment. In this study, we examined associations between infant temperament and changes in parents' commitment across the TTP and consider parents' satisfaction with the division of childcare and housework as a potential mediator. Data was drawn from a longitudinal study of 182 couples who were followed across their TTP. Regression analysis in IBM SPSS AMOS was used to analyze data and test mediation. Results show that higher infant negative affect predicted less strong positive couple commitment, but greater negative couple commitment, with mothers and fathers being influenced in different patterns. More infant negative affect had a negative impact on mothers' dedication to the couple relationship and made them feel more trapped in it, while only linked with father's decreased confidence about the future of the relationship. Besides, satisfaction with division of labor affected mothers' commitment, particularly their desire to maintain and improve the relationship, but not fathers'. With our hypotheses only partially supported, other mechanisms may be examined in future research, such as couple conflict, coparenting conflict, etc. This research will help us understand how to best support couples making the TTP.
Description
Keywords
transition to parenthood, negative affect, infant temperament, couple commitment