Full Citation

Title: New Parents Psychological Adjustment andTrajectories of Early Parental Involvement

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2015

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Abstract: Trajectories of parental involvement time(engagement and child care) across 3, 6, and 9 months postpartum and associations with parents own and their partners psychological adjustment (dysphoria, anxiety, and empathic personal distress) were examined using a sample of dual-earner couples experiencing first-time parenthood (N = 182 couples). Using time diary measures that captured intensive parenting moments, hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that patterns of associations between psychological adjustment and parental involve-ment time depended on the parenting domain,aspect of psychological adjustment, and parent gender. Psychological adjustment difficulties tended to bias the 2-parent system toward a gendered pattern of mother step in and fa-ther step out, as father involvement tended to decrease and mother involvement either remained unchanged or increased in response to their own and their partners psycholog-ical adjustment difficulties. In contrast, few significant effects were found in models using parental involvement to predict psychological adjustment.

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Authors: Jia, Rongfang; Kotila, Letitia E; Schoppe-Sullican, Sarah J; Kamp Dush, Claire M

Periodical (Full): Journal of Marriage and Family

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Pages: 1-15

Data Collections: IPUMS Time Use - ATUS

Topics: Family and Marriage, Gender

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