Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Journal of Family Nursing
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tomlinson, P. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Tomlinson, P. S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Marital Relationship Change in the Transition to Parenthood: A Reexamination as Interpreted through Transition Theory

Patricia Short Tomlinson, Ph.D., R.N.

University of Minnesota

This study examines whether transition to parenthood results in marital relationship disruption. A total of 96 childbearing couples were tested with Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) 2 months before and 3 months after the birth of theirfirst child. Fifty-four nonparent couples matched on age, income, and education were tested over the same interval. A three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)for nonequivalent groups was used to estimate group, gender, and time effects on marital satisfaction. Results showed a significant group effect, a significant time effect, and a Group x Time interaction. Post hoc analysis revealed that females in the parent group showed the greatest decline of all groups in marital satisfaction, an appraisal most influenced by the decreased ability of the spousal partnership to reach consensus on tasks, activities, goals, and values. Females in the Nonparent group experienced an increase in satisfaction with these same consensus patterns. Despite new parents' overall decline in marital satisfaction, these results do not provide supportfor transition to parenthood as a crisis because at both pretest and posttest, new parents reported significantly higher marital satisfaction than did nonparent couples. However, the results do suggest that examining marital satisfaction during transition to parenthood, as it was done in this study, provides information regarding the dynamic shifts taking place within the family at this time.

Journal of Family Nursing, Vol. 2, No. 3, 286-305 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/107484079600200305
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Journal of Family NursingHome page
A. A. M. Bryan
Couple Relationships over the Transition to Parenthood: Methodological Issues in Testing for an Intervention Effect
Journal of Family Nursing, August 1, 2002; 8(3): 201 - 220.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of Family NursingHome page
S. A. Denham
Part 2: Family Health During and After Death of a Family Member
Journal of Family Nursing, May 1, 1999; 5(2): 160 - 183.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of Family NursingHome page
B. L. Broom
Parental Differences and Changes in Marital Quality, Psychological Well-Being, and Sensitivity with Firstborn Children
Journal of Family Nursing, February 1, 1998; 4(1): 87 - 112.
[Abstract] [PDF]