In this unusual but exciting look at a complex topic, family scholars offer a vast array of insights into the multiple consequences, concerns, and characteristics of parenthood. The transition to parenthood--the most critical step in individual and family life cycles--is thoroughly examined from a social psychological perspective. Cultural and ethnic factors are considered as major influences in the transition to parenthood, as are changing patterns in the work force, the consequences of the gender revolution, and altered patterns of marriage and divorce--all of which have shattered the traditional ways of parenting. Family theorists, practitioners, and parents are strongly encouraged to further research and discuss the necessary elements and available options involved in facing the changes brought on by parenthood.

This collaborative study provides a subtle and multi-layered understanding of the transition to parenthood within a cross-national comparative framework.

This book provides a new approach by examining gender and the transition to parenthood by using the actor partner interdependence model. Unlike other books which focus on the individual perspective of becoming a parent (especially for mothers), this book examines how couples and individuals successfully navigate this important life passage. This book covers a mix of psychological and sociological studies on the transition to parenthood. Readers will learn about the affective, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of this transition in early 21st century America and how it has changed in the past three decades. The book is aimed at graduate students, researchers and professionals who are interested in an interdisciplinary approach to this most formative passage in adult life. By bringing together past and current research, this book tells the story of becoming parents in 21st century America from his, her, and their points of view. Actor-partner interdependence model approach Affective, behavioral and cognitive processes Broad review of gender and the transition

It is common for European couples living fairly egalitarian lives to adopt a traditional division of labour at the transition to parenthood. Based on in-depth interviews with 334 parents-to-be in eight European countries, this book explores the implications of family policies and gender culture from the perspective of couples who are expecting their first child. Couples’ Transitions to Parenthood: Analysing Gender and Work in Europe is the first comparative, qualitative study that explicitly locates couples’ parenting ideals and plans in the wider context of national institutions.

This book argues that new parents are caught in an uncomfortable crossfire between two competing discourses: those around ideal relationships and those around ideal parenting. The author suggests that parents are pressured to be equal partners while also being asked to parent their children intensively, in ways markedly more demanding of mothers. Reconciling these ideals has the potential to create resentment and disappointment. Drawing on research with couples in London as they became parents, the book points to the social pressures at play in raising the next generation at material, physiological and cultural levels. Chapters explore these levels through concrete practices: birth, feeding and sleeping—three of the most highly moralised areas of contemporary parenting culture.

Around the globe, the very conceptualization of family is associated with the relationship between a parent and a child. The birth of a child represents both the end of one experience, and the beginning of another.

This 1988 book brings together leading scholars from a range of disciplines concerned with the study of the transition to parenthood. The text discusses the reasons why some new parents experience an enhanced sense of self and a deepening of important relationships, whereas others experience crisis and conflict.

Transition to Parenthood moves beyond a one-study focus and captures multidisciplinary work on all families making the transition to parenthood. The book covers societal trends, changes, and most importantly expectations. Focus is also placed on how families are impacted by their surroundings and their individual members. Strengths and limitations of current theories are discussed, as well as how the phenomenon of parenthood requires a combination of both macro- and micro-level theories.

First Published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.