School of Education, Bar-Ilan University.
Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya.
J Fam Psychol. 2021 Sep;35(6):715-724. doi: 10.1037/fam0000826. Epub 2021 Mar 11.
To have a child is among individuals' most important and meaningful decisions, with far-reaching implications. Despite evidence linking this decision to a wide variety of consequences, little is known about what motivates people to have children, and even less so about the long-term effects of different childbearing motivations on parenting and child adjustment. This study took a self-determination theory (SDT) perspective, examining how prenatal maternal autonomous and controlled childbearing motivations are related to child behavior problems through parenting styles. The rationale was that prenatal autonomous (sense of volition and self-fulfillment) and controlled (feeling pressured) childbearing motivations would shape later parental styles (autonomy-supportive vs. controlling, respectively) and, consequently, child adjustment. Over a period of 2 years beginning at pregnancy, 326 Israeli mothers reported their prenatal childbearing motivations, as well as parental styles and child behavior problems 20 months postpartum. Results of a path analysis revealed that prenatal autonomous childbearing motivation predicted autonomy-supportive parenting, yet the latter was not associated with children's behavior problems. Prenatal controlled motivation predicted controlling parenting, which, in turn, predicted children's internalizing and externalizing problems. No direct effects of childbearing motivation on children's behavior problems are observed, suggesting that childbearing motivation is a distal antecedent operating through more proximal factors such as parenting style. Findings were robust to children's temperamental tendencies and sociodemographic risk factors such as maternal age, high-risk pregnancy, and preterm birth. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for the discourse on motivations underlying the childbearing decision and their effects on parenting and child adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
生孩子是个人最重要和最有意义的决定之一，其影响深远。尽管有证据表明，这一决定与各种后果有关，但人们对促使人们生孩子的原因知之甚少，更不知道不同的生育动机对育儿和孩子适应的长期影响。本研究从自我决定理论（SDT）的角度出发，通过育儿风格来检验产前母亲自主和控制生育动机与儿童行为问题的关系。其基本原理是，产前自主（意志感和自我实现感）和控制（感到有压力）的生育动机将塑造后来的父母风格（分别为自主支持型和控制型），进而影响孩子的适应。在怀孕开始后的 2 年期间，326 名以色列母亲报告了她们产前的生育动机、父母风格以及 20 个月大的孩子的行为问题。路径分析的结果表明，产前自主生育动机预测了自主支持型的育儿风格，但后者与孩子的行为问题无关。产前控制动机预测了控制型育儿风格，而后者又预测了孩子的内化和外化问题。生育动机对孩子的行为问题没有直接影响，这表明生育动机是一种远程的前因，通过更接近的因素（如育儿风格）起作用。研究结果对儿童的气质倾向和社会人口风险因素（如母亲年龄、高危妊娠和早产）具有稳健性。这些发现对生育决策背后的动机及其对育儿和孩子适应的影响的讨论具有理论和实践意义。
