Anxiety across the transition to parenthood: change trajectories among low-risk parents

Abstract

Background and Objectives: A number of sources suggest changes in anxiety across the transition to parenthood may be experienced by parents in different ways, yet no studies have examined whether new parents experience changes in anxiety in distinct subgroups. Design: We conducted a longitudinal study of 208 first-time parents (104 couples) from a low-risk population. Parents were interviewed from the third trimester of pregnancy to nine-months postpartum. Methods: The current study utilized latent class growth analysis to explore subgroups of change in symptoms of anxiety. Based on stress and coping theory, we also examined a number of personal and social prenatal predictors of subgroup membership. Results: We identified two distinct change trajectories: (1) moderate and stable and (2) low and declining. We also found prenatal depression, expected parenting efficacy, and relationship satisfaction were significantly associated with subgroup membership. Conclusions: Our results suggest a majority of new parents adjust well to parenthood in terms of anxiety, while a smaller subgroup of parents experience continually higher levels of anxiety months after the baby is born.

Keywords:

• anxiety
• transition to parenthood
• group-based modelling

Funding

This work was supported by the Ohio Board of Regents.

Notes

1. It is important to note, in addition to quantitative changes in anxiety, new parents may also experience qualitative changes due to the different types of stress experienced at different time periods across the transition to parenthood. In accordance with prior research in this area (e.g., Behringer et al., 2011; Whisman, et al., 2011), our goal in the current study was to examine how new parents experienced quantitative changes in anxiety across the transition. Yet, in order to account for the fact that there may be qualitative differences in anxiety at different time points across the transition, we selected a measure of anxiety (the Symptom Checklist-90-R; Derogatis, 1994) which assesses a diverse range of anxiety symptoms, including emotional (feeling nervous, afraid, or tense), physical (trembling or heart pounding), and cognitive (bad thoughts or frightening images) aspects of anxiety. Thus, although the aim of our study is to examine quantitative changes in anxiety across the transition to parenthood, by using a comprehensive and diverse measure of anxiety symptoms, we are able to account for the potential qualitative differences in anxiety at different time points. We thank an anonymous reviewer for bringing this point to our attention.

2. Although there were significant bivariate correlations between many of our predictor variables, all of them were small to moderate in size, indicating multicollinearity among our predictors was not an issue in these analyses.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by the Ohio Board of Regents.