O'Reilly Treter Maggie, Rhoades Galena K, Scott Shelby B, Markman Howard J, Stanley Scott M
Department of Psychology, The University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
Fam Process. 2021 Jun;60(2):477-492. doi: 10.1111/famp.12567. Epub 2020 Jul 18.
The current study evaluates the effects of having a baby on relationship quality and stability, contrasting married and unmarried cohabiting parents (N = 179; 38% unmarried cohabiting). Participants provided several waves of data, including time points before, during, and after pregnancy. Results indicated that cohabiting parents broke up at a significantly higher rate after having a baby compared to married parents. In terms of relationship quality, interrupted time-series analyses indicated that negative communication significantly increased after baby regardless of marital status. In addition, married parents had significantly higher levels of relationship satisfaction and commitment before baby compared to cohabiting parents but experienced modest declines in relationship satisfaction after baby. Cohabiting parents did not show such declines but remained lower in satisfaction throughout the study. Gender moderated commitment trajectories, such that married and cohabiting women demonstrated decreased commitment after baby, but married and cohabiting men demonstrated no significant changes in commitment. This study adds to the literature by examining both relationship stability and relationship quality trajectories from before pregnancy to after the birth of a baby among married and cohabiting parents in the same sample. Implications of these findings for practice and future research are discussed.
本研究评估生育对关系质量和稳定性的影响，对比已婚和未婚同居父母（N = 179；38%为未婚同居）。参与者提供了多轮数据，包括怀孕前、怀孕期间和产后的时间点。结果表明，与已婚父母相比，同居父母在生育后分手的比例显著更高。在关系质量方面，中断时间序列分析表明，无论婚姻状况如何，生育后负面沟通显著增加。此外，与同居父母相比，已婚父母在生育前的关系满意度和承诺水平显著更高，但生育后关系满意度略有下降。同居父母没有出现这种下降，但在整个研究过程中满意度仍然较低。性别调节了承诺轨迹，已婚和同居女性在生育后承诺下降，但已婚和同居男性的承诺没有显著变化。本研究通过在同一样本中考察已婚和同居父母从怀孕前到孩子出生后的关系稳定性和关系质量轨迹，为文献增添了内容。讨论了这些发现对实践和未来研究的启示。
