Representations of Marriage and Expectations of Parenthood: Predictors of Supportive Coparenting for First-Time Parents

SYNOPSIS

Objective. We examine how spouses' representations of marriage and expectations about first-time parenthood predict support of the other spouse's parenting in postpartum triadic family interactions. Design. Prenatally, spouses' representations of marriage were assessed based on the content and insightfulness of memories from their parents' marriage, and spouses also rated their expectations about parenthood. At 24 months postpartum, partners were each rated on support of their spouse's parenting. Results. In general, individuals' higher expectations that their personal well-being would improve following first-time parenthood predicted lower support of the partners' parenting. But this effect was modified by individuals' marital representations, indicating that potential disillusionment due to unrealistically high expectations may be mitigated by having the insight to learn from the negative marital relationships of one's parents. Conclusions. What partners bring to the transition to parenthood, including how they expect it to affect their lives and how they represent marital relationships, have important effects on supportive coparenting for first-time parents.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported by Grant SBR-9212990 from the National Science Foundation and Grant 3332 from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. The authors would like to thank the families who participated in this study, as well as Deborah Jacobvitz, who is a principal investigator on the longitudinal study from which these data are drawn, and Deborah Casper for reading drafts of the manuscript and coming up with the names for the marital representation groups.