This study examined how a major life stressor—the transition to parenthood—affects marital satisfaction and functioning among persons with different attachment orientations. As hypothesized, the interaction between women's degree of attachment ambivalence and their perceptions of spousal support (assessed 6 weeks prior to childbirth) predicted systematic changes in men's and women's marital sat...

Research into the process of becoming mother or father shows very conclusively that this important life transition is accompanied by both a decrease in marital quality and a more traditional division of labour. In this paper these changes are analyzed with special emphasis on the relationships between them and exploring the role played in this process by the mother's work status. Results showed...

One of the elements of the second demographic transition has been a strong decline in the general level of fertility. This decline has occurred in all countries of the European Economic Area, apparently irrespective of factors such as economic development, employment opportunities, religion, education, social protection and female labour participation. The increase in non-marital fertility, coi...

This study examined life satisfaction among individuals who had undergone a transition in marital status and those whose marital status remained stable over a 7-year period. In particular, using data from a large-scale, longitudinal study we assessed life satisfaction as measured in 1983 and 1990 among 2,180 men and women between the ages of 67 and 102. Groups of individuals were identified on ...

This study examines two overlapping longitudinal samples of U.S. couples with children, covering a period of 15 years after the first child's birth. The first sample extended from the pregnancy with a first child until that child was 5.5 years old; the second from ages 4.5 to 14.5. Growth curve analyses revealed that marital satisfaction declined over 15 years for both husbands and wives. Attac...

This study examines changes in leisure patterns across the transition to parenthood for dual-earner, working-class couples, as well as the relationship between leisure and marital quality. To this end, 147 heterosexual couples were interviewed across the transition to parenthood. Findings indicate that during the transition to parenthood, husbands and wives experience an initial decline in leis...

Couples expecting their first child were randomly assigned to intervention (n=28) and comparison groups (n=38) to assess the efficacy of a couples intervention and examine marital satisfaction trajectories across the transition to parenthood. The primarily European American sample (M age=30 years) completed assessments of marital satisfaction at 5 points from the final trimester of pregnancy to...

This study investigated the relationship of two contextual variables (the marital relationship and stress) with the experience of menopause for 224 married midlife women. These women completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Quality of Relationship Inventory, the Women’s Health Questionnaire, the Index of Sexual Satisfaction, and the Life Events Questionnaire for Middle-Aged Women. Marital qua...