Parents' convergence on sharing and marital satisfaction, father involvement, and parent-child relationship at the transition to parenthood

Authors
Citation
R. Feldman, Parents' convergence on sharing and marital satisfaction, father involvement, and parent-child relationship at the transition to parenthood, INF MEN H J, 21(3), 2000, pp. 176-191
Citations number
47
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Psycology
Journal title
INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL
ISSN journal
0163-9641 → ACNP
Volume
21
Issue
3
Year of publication
2000
Pages
176 - 191
Database
ISI
SICI code
0163-9641(200007)21:3<176:PCOSAM>2.0.ZU;2-S
Abstract
This study examines determinants of father involvement, the parents' conver gence on marital satisfaction, and mothers' and fathers' interactive behavi or in dual-earner families at the transition to parenthood. Sixty dual-earn er Israeli couples and their five-month-old firstborn child were interviewe d and videotaped in infant-mother and infant-father interactions. Interacti ons were coded globally for 21 interactive behaviors and composited into me asures of parent sensitivity and infant readiness to interact. Five determi nants of each parent's involvement in house and childcare were assessed as predictors of parent-infant interactions: the sharing of household and chil dcare responsibilities, the amount of time each parent spends with the infa nt during the week and on weekends, and the range of childcare activities t he parent typically performs. Marital convergence was indexed by the absolu te difference score between mothers' and fathers' marital satisfaction. Fat her sensitivity was related to the sharing of household and childcare respo nsibilities, to the amount of time the father spends with the: child on wee kends (but not during the week), to the range of childcare activities fathe r performs, and to marital convergence. Mother sensitivity was related only to the sharing of responsibilities between spouses. The range of the fathe r's childcare activities predicted maternal interactive sensitivity. Infant readiness to interact with the father, but not with the mother, was relate d to the sharing of childcare responsibilities, to the range of father's ch ildcare activities, and to marital convergence. Results further specify the differential associations between the marital and the parent-child relatio nship for mothers and fathers and point to the importance of the father's i nstrumental involvement in childcare to the development of fathering.