Changes in Relationship Commitment Across the Transition to Parenthood: Pre-pregnancy Happiness as a Protective Resource
The transition to parenthood is both a joyous and a challenging event in a relationship. Studies to date have found mostly negative effects of the birth of the first child on the parental relationship. We propose that partners' pre-pregnancy individual happiness may serve as a buffer against th...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622160/full |
| _version_ | 1818949835563204608 |
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| author | Hagar Ter Kuile Catrin Finkenauer Tanja van der Lippe Esther S. Kluwer Esther S. Kluwer |
| author_facet | Hagar Ter Kuile Catrin Finkenauer Tanja van der Lippe Esther S. Kluwer Esther S. Kluwer |
| author_sort | Hagar Ter Kuile |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The transition to parenthood is both a joyous and a challenging event in a relationship. Studies to date have found mostly negative effects of the birth of the first child on the parental relationship. We propose that partners' pre-pregnancy individual happiness may serve as a buffer against these negative effects. We predicted that parents who are happy prior to pregnancy fare better in terms of relationship commitment after childbirth than unhappy parents. To test our prediction, we used data of a 5-wave longitudinal study among 109 Dutch newlywed couples who had their first child during the study and a comparison group of 55 couples who remained childless. We found that the relationship commitment of fathers with higher pre-pregnancy happiness and fathers with a partner with higher pre-pregnancy happiness increased slightly in the years after childbirth, whereas the relationship commitment of fathers with lower pre-pregnancy happiness and fathers with a partner with lower pre-pregnancy happiness decreased. In addition, the relationship commitment of mothers with a happier partner prior to pregnancy decreased only slightly across the transition to parenthood but showed a steeper decline for mothers with a partner with average or lower pre-pregnancy happiness. In line with the idea that happiness acts as a resource when partners have to deal with relationship challenges, individual happiness predicted changes in relationship commitment for parents, but not for partners who remained childless. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T09:09:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-11e7f794163e43e58fc176976cb8296d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T09:09:00Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-11e7f794163e43e58fc176976cb8296d2022-12-21T19:45:37ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-02-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.622160622160Changes in Relationship Commitment Across the Transition to Parenthood: Pre-pregnancy Happiness as a Protective ResourceHagar Ter Kuile0Catrin Finkenauer1Tanja van der Lippe2Esther S. Kluwer3Esther S. Kluwer4Department of Social, Health & Organisational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NetherlandsDepartment of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NetherlandsDepartment of Sociology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NetherlandsDepartment of Social, Health & Organisational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NetherlandsBehavioral Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, NetherlandsThe transition to parenthood is both a joyous and a challenging event in a relationship. Studies to date have found mostly negative effects of the birth of the first child on the parental relationship. We propose that partners' pre-pregnancy individual happiness may serve as a buffer against these negative effects. We predicted that parents who are happy prior to pregnancy fare better in terms of relationship commitment after childbirth than unhappy parents. To test our prediction, we used data of a 5-wave longitudinal study among 109 Dutch newlywed couples who had their first child during the study and a comparison group of 55 couples who remained childless. We found that the relationship commitment of fathers with higher pre-pregnancy happiness and fathers with a partner with higher pre-pregnancy happiness increased slightly in the years after childbirth, whereas the relationship commitment of fathers with lower pre-pregnancy happiness and fathers with a partner with lower pre-pregnancy happiness decreased. In addition, the relationship commitment of mothers with a happier partner prior to pregnancy decreased only slightly across the transition to parenthood but showed a steeper decline for mothers with a partner with average or lower pre-pregnancy happiness. In line with the idea that happiness acts as a resource when partners have to deal with relationship challenges, individual happiness predicted changes in relationship commitment for parents, but not for partners who remained childless.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622160/fulltransition to parenthoodcommitmenthappinessvulnerability-stress-adaptation modelactor-partner interdependence modelMplus |
| spellingShingle | Hagar Ter Kuile Catrin Finkenauer Tanja van der Lippe Esther S. Kluwer Esther S. Kluwer Changes in Relationship Commitment Across the Transition to Parenthood: Pre-pregnancy Happiness as a Protective Resource Frontiers in Psychology transition to parenthood commitment happiness vulnerability-stress-adaptation model actor-partner interdependence model Mplus |
| title | Changes in Relationship Commitment Across the Transition to Parenthood: Pre-pregnancy Happiness as a Protective Resource |
| title_full | Changes in Relationship Commitment Across the Transition to Parenthood: Pre-pregnancy Happiness as a Protective Resource |
| title_fullStr | Changes in Relationship Commitment Across the Transition to Parenthood: Pre-pregnancy Happiness as a Protective Resource |
| title_full_unstemmed | Changes in Relationship Commitment Across the Transition to Parenthood: Pre-pregnancy Happiness as a Protective Resource |
| title_short | Changes in Relationship Commitment Across the Transition to Parenthood: Pre-pregnancy Happiness as a Protective Resource |
| title_sort | changes in relationship commitment across the transition to parenthood pre pregnancy happiness as a protective resource |
| topic | transition to parenthood commitment happiness vulnerability-stress-adaptation model actor-partner interdependence model Mplus |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.622160/full |
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