Attachment orientations, marriage, and the transition to parenthood Academic Article

abstract

• This study examined how a major life stressor-the transition to parenthood-impacts marital satisfaction and functioning in persons with different romantic attachment orientations. As hypothesized, if highly ambivalent women entered the transition perceiving low levels of spousal support, they experienced significant declines (pre-to-postnatal changes) in perceptions of spousal support and marital satisfaction, and their husbands reported significant declines in support giving and marital satisfaction. Changes in both spouses' satisfaction were mediated by pre-to-postnatal changes in wives' perceptions of spousal support. That is, highly ambivalent women who perceived less prenatal support reported significant declines in perceived support over time, which in turn predicted significant declines in their marital satisfaction. These results highlight the critical role that perceptions of support assume when highly ambivalent women encounter a major life stressor. 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

authors

• Rholes, William

published proceedings

• JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY

altmetric score

• 1

author list (cited authors)

• Simpson, J. A., & Rholes, W. S.

citation count

• 47

complete list of authors

• Simpson, JA||Rholes, WS

publication date

• December 2002

publisher

• Elsevier  Publisher

keywords

• Attachment
• Marital Satisfaction
• Parenthood

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00513-5

start page

• 622

end page

• 628

volume

• 36

issue

• 6

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0092-6566(02)00513-5