New Parents' Psychological Adjustment and Trajectories of Early Parental Involvement

• Author: Claire M. Kamp Dush,Rongfang Jia,Sarah J. Schoppe‐Sullivan,Letitia E. Kotila
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12263
• Date: 01 February 2016
• Published date: 01 February 2016

R J University of Miami

L E. K, S J. S-S,  C M. K D The Ohio State

University∗

New Parents’ Psychological Adjustment and

Trajectories of Early Parental Involvement

Trajectories of parental involvement time

(engagement and child care) across 3, 6, and

9 months postpartum and associations with

parents’ own and their partners’ psychological

adjustment (dysphoria, anxiety, and empathic

personal distress) wereexamined using a sample

of dual-earner couples experiencing rst-time

parenthood (N=182 couples). Using time diary

measures that captured intensive parenting

moments, hierarchical linear modeling analyses

revealed that patterns of associations between

psychological adjustment and parental involve-

ment time depended on the parenting domain,

aspect of psychological adjustment, and parent

gender. Psychological adjustment difculties

tended to bias the 2-parent system toward a

gendered pattern of “mother step in” and “fa-

ther step out,” as father involvement tended

to decrease and mother involvement either

remained unchanged or increased in response

to their own and their partners’ psycholog-

ical adjustment difculties. In contrast, few

signicant effects were found in models using

Department of Psychology, Universityof Miami, 5665

Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables, FL 33146

(jia.31@osu.edu).

∗Department of Human Sciences, The Ohio State

University,1787 Neil Ave., 135 Campbell Hall, Columbus,

OH 43210.

This article was edited by Robert Crosnoe.

Key Words: adult well-being, contemporary families, gender

roles, interpersonal relationships, parentinvolvement.

parental involvement to predict psychological

adjustment.

Parental involvement time, or the amount of

“quality” time parents spend directly interact-

ing with their young children in engagement

(play) and caregiving activities, is crucial for

child development (Lang et al., 2014). Belsky’s

(1984) theoretical model describes parental

psychological adjustment as the most powerful

determinant of parental involvement. Parents

with poor psychological adjustment are less

involved with their children, placing children

at higher risk for maladaptive development

(Ramchandani, Stein, Evans, & Connor, 2005).

Although most studies linking parental psy-

chological adjustment and involvement have

centered on pathology, Belsky emphasized the

importance of studying normative variations

in psychological adjustment in association

with parenting. Indeed, even well-functioning

adults face increased risk for deteriorated psy-

chological adjustment during the transition to

parenthood (e.g., Paulson & Bazemore, 2010;

Twamley, Brunton, Sutcliffe, Hinds, & Thomas,

2013). First-time parents, especially those in

dual-earner families, are often under substan-

tial time pressures from work and parenting

demands (Roxburgh, 2012). Individual vul-

nerabilities, such as psychological adjustment

difculties, might aggravate this stress, placing

rst-time, working parents at risk of poor parent-

ing, such as reduced quality time with infants.

Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (February 2016): 197–211 197

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12263