Violated Wishes about Division of Childcare Labor Predict Early Coparenting Process During Stressful and Nonstressful Family Evaluations

Inna Khazan, Clark University

James P. McHale, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg

Wendy DeCourcey, Clark University

A new study published this week in the Infant Mental Health Journal by Family Study Center research collaborators reveals that first-time parents who fail to get the degree of caregiving support from their partners that they had hoped for during the pregnancy may also be getting off on the wrong foot as they coparent their young infant together. Examining data from his groundbreaking “Families Through Time” study, Dr. McHale and his colleagues examined patterns of coparenting behavior by mothers and fathers as they played together with their new infants in both playful and mildly stressful face-to-face interactions 3 months after the baby’s arrival. They sought to determine whether patterns of behavior during coparenting interactions showed more signs of strain among parents who had had their pre-baby wishes about the husband-wife division of childcare labor violated more substantially. Previous studies had established that greater dissatisfaction with the division of labor led to greater marital unhappiness following the transition to parenthood, but prior research had not examined how parents worked together as they were actually coparenting the baby. The new study replicated past findings regarding marital satisfaction, but also found that mothers' (and to a lesser extent, fathers') violated division-of-labor wishes led to more subtle signs of distress in how the whole family interacted together at 3 months. The effect was especially noticeable as the adults parented together during the slightly stressful interaction. Of greatest interest, what mattered most appeared to be the violation of wishes, and not the actual way that childcare was divided up between the parents. The new findings highlight the importance of understanding parents' unique individual perspectives about what they are hoping for, rather than specific patterns of family structure, in determining early family adjustment.

Complete Reference: Khazan, I., McHale, J.P., & DeCourcey, W. (2008). Violated wishes about division of childcare labor predict early coparenting process during stressful and nonstressful family evaluations. Infant Mental Health Journal, 29, 343-361.