Becoming a parent Flashcards
when does the transition to parenthood start?
The transition itself is a specific period but thinking about parenting is something that happens a long time before we become parents
maternal age- ONS UK data
- Clear progressive increase in age of child bearing- including first child bearing
- The space between the various children a woman may have has reduced considerably with pregnancy becoming closer and closer
See that the percentage of people under 30 has been steadily decreasing
- The space between the various children a woman may have has reduced considerably with pregnancy becoming closer and closer
becoming a parent
- Age increase troubling
- Negative female age - fertility relationship (ESHRE Capri Workshop Group, 2005)
- Starts falling at 30, then sharp decrease after 35
- This drop cannot be compensated through IVF (Leridon, 2004)
- The age factor is important- female age is negatively related to fertility rates. The decrease starts being statistically visible around 30 and a very clear sharp drop around the age of 35 with the age of 38 being the age where fertility is very low
- This cannot be compensated for by IVF- this is psychologically very exhausting and does not create fertility
- Age increase at first-born
- May leave fewer child-bearing years, leading to shorter birth intervals
- Potential increase in adverse perinatal and infant outcomes (Conde-Agudelo et al., 2006, 2012)
- Being older at first born leaves fewer years for being a parent which can have some effects of the child but also reduces the window of childbearing- decreases the time between pregnancies (if you want more children) and shorter windows are shown to have worse perinatal and infant outcomes. Having more time for childbearing prevents this
- Notably, parenthood is important for young adults
- ~90% state parenthood as a desired life-goal (Lampic et al., 2006; Peterson et al., 2012; Prior et al., 2017)
- Young adults, in Western contexts, especially with higher education
(Lampic et al., 2006; Peterson et al., 2012)
- Childbearing barriers
- Achievement of career and educational goals, and of relationship and economic stability
- Low awareness of age-related female-fertility decline
- Plan childbearing at ages when fertility has started declining, increasing risk of childlessness
- Young adults have low awareness of the details of how fertility and their rates work and how they may be impacted by inevitable things such as age- they end up trying to have children later in life which is functionally more difficult to obtain (chances of remaining childless will increase)
- Data on young adults’ fertility knowledge available from many countries
- Not much is known about UK young adults’
- We conducted a study, to investigate in young adults in higher education:
- Fertility knowledge
- Intentions towards parenthood
Barriers perceived against it
study method
- Sample
- 1943 university students (1439 female; 504 male)
- Aged 18 to 24 (mean age: 19.91)
- 80.65% white ethnic background
- THESE ARE ALL LIMITATIONS
- Online questionnaire
- Swedish Fertility Awareness Scale (Lampic et al., 2006)
○ Childbearing intentions and plans (e.g., age, number of children, plans in case of infertility)
○ Expectations for life changes brought by parenthood
○ Personal and societal barriers perceived for childbearing
Fertility issue awareness (e.g., age-related fertility changes, pregnancy likelihood, IVF success rates).
- Swedish Fertility Awareness Scale (Lampic et al., 2006)
results: wanting to become parents
- They want children and having them is important (0-100)
- Females: ~88% [importance ~79 on average]
- Males: ~88% [importance ~78 on average]
- They want multiple children
- Females: 2.61 on average (4 or more: ~12%!)
Males: 2.46 on average (4 or more: ~7%!)
- Females: 2.61 on average (4 or more: ~12%!)
results- childbearing age
- The average age of first child was found to hover around 28-29 mark- percentages on chart on left will see that 30% of women participants indicated they wanted to have their first child past 30 which is a 3rd of participants panning to have a child at an age where fertility rates aren’t great
Clearly a shift towards older ages than we have seen in previous historic years
results- what to do in case of childlessness
- Most selected option is IVF- this depends on fertility rates and psychologically exhausting
The option of remaining childless was selected the least
results- perceived consequences of parenthood
- When looking at the consequences of coming parents the majority of the participants viewed this positively
- Rosy view about parenting
- Idea that there is an element of chronological progression that can affect these decisions was not on the radar of participants- at least there was an idea that current societal positions there is a need for stability and maturity but also accomplishment in terms of career goals
conclusions from the study
- Young adults completing higher education in the UK
- See parenthood as desirable and important, personally and relationally enriching
- Perceive attainment of educational, and professional goals, and personal and relational stability as barriers to childbearing
- Often plan to have children at ages when fertility has declined
- Hope in IVF in case of childlessness (but overestimate its success)
- This is reflected in their poor awareness of fertility issues
Considerable risk of involuntary childlessness
implications of the study
- No easy answers
- Provide education, but then what?
- What about society’s
- Approach to personal and professional achievements?
- Approach and support towards parenthood, especially if achieved “earlier”?
- What about young adults’ actual values, opinions, and desires, and solutions?
Multidisciplinary and inclusive discussion needed
the transition to parenthood
- It refers to the period (traditionally starting in pregnancy) when individuals prepare
- Psychologically
- Emotionally
- Socially for becoming parents
- Everything that functioned before from all points of view needs to be reformulated in terms of the child- goals, roles and expectations change or create new ones that become dominant
- All relationships are completely re-negotiated
- Even our relationship to ourselves changes as our priorities and goals shift
- Researchers have focused on this transition and the parental role in general for decades.
- Multiple factors at play in this delicate and complex phase of an individual’s, and often a couple’s life
- Useful models:
- Biopsychosocial model
(Engel, 1977) - Bioecological model
(Bronfenbrenner, Morris, 2007)
- Biopsychosocial model
hormonal changes
- hCG: Once egg meets sperm, hCG stimulates production of estrogen and progesterone. It also suppresses the immune system to support the growing baby.
- Estrogen: Helps the uterus grow, regulates the production of other key hormones, and triggers the development of baby’s organs
- Progesterone: encourages breast tissue growth and later helps soften ligaments and cartilage to prepare for labour.
- Relaxin: Relaxing muscles, bones, ligaments and joints later in pregnancy in preparation for labour.
- Oxytocin: Stimulating labour
Prolactin: Causes breasts to increase in size and eventually produce milk.
Key biological changes- Early pregnancy (first trimester 1-12 weeks)
- Nausea and vomiting is experienced by 70-85% of pregnant woman (ACOG, 2004)
- On a spectrum from mild to severe (hyperemesis gravidarum)
- Thought to be a direct effect of HCG
- Typically stabilises at 3-4 months
- Fatigue experienced by 96.6% of first trimester mothers (Zib, Lim & Walters, 1999)
Contributing factors include increased oxygen consumption, metabolic changes and estrogen/progesterone (Bialobock & Monga, 2000)
key biological changes post partum
- Recovery from birth generally takes 6 weeks
- Huge drop in all pregnancy hormones
- Potential explanation for ‘baby blues’
- Newborns wake every 2-3 hours in the night so sleep quality is poor postpartum
Most common complaints 3 months after birth were fatigue (67%), back pain (47%), breast problems (37%), and urinary incontinence (29%) (Woodland et al. 2013)
biological changes in men
- Less is known about biological changes in fathers during this transition
- Men experience hormonal changes similar to those in mothers, during the perinatal period, if they are cohabiting with the mother (Storey et al., 2001; Wynne-Edwards, 2001)
- Increases in estradiol and oxytocin during pregnancy
- Increases in prolactin and cortisol just before the birth
- Reductions in cortisol in the post-birth
- Postnatally, and more specific to men:
- Significant reductions in testosterone (Storey et al., 2000)
- Stronger reduction in men who spend substantial time with their infants (Gettler et al., 2011)
- Literature shows that after the perinatal period a lot of hormonal changes in a men’s body
- Changes in hormones that are similar to those that we see in a pregnant woman e.g. increases in oxytocin (caregiving hormone) and prolactin and cortisol just before birth- mirroring the lady
- Specific to man- reductions in testosterone especially when they spend time with infants
hormonal changes in men and women
- These hormone concentrations are:
- similar across mothers and fathers
- correlated between individual partners
- Either/or (Gordon et al., 2010):
- Mothers and fathers influence each other’s physiological reactions to the pregnancy, childbirth, and early caregiving
- Mothers and fathers have similar physiological systems that respond to the experience of preparing for parenthood
- Either way:
- Hormonal changes in parents during this transition do not exclusively reflect the experience of pregnancy
- In fact, these hormonal changes seem to
- Not only accompany pregnancy and childbirth
- Also regulate the motivational, affective, and cognitive aspects of parents’ adjustment
-E.g.,Higher levels of oxytocin predict increased (Feldman, 2011; 2012; Atzil et al., 2011; Gordon et al., 2010): - Parent-infant affection
- Parent-infant gaze
- Joint attention
- Sensitive parenting
- Secure attachment
There is a biological mechanism underpinning early parenting behavior, common to both parents during pregnancy, which underlies the psychological changes of the transition to parenthood
brain structures
- Hormonal increases and alterations coincide with changes in the structure/architecture of parents’ brains
- From pregnancy to just after birth
- Hoekzema et al., 2017 found:
○ Reductions in gray matter volume in brain regions implicated in early caregiving
○ Reductions predicted maternal postnatal attachment scale scores
○ These reductions reflect synaptic pruning, or increased efficiency, in key brain regions- pruning is followed by increase in grey mastter volunes
- Hoekzema et al., 2017 found:
- During and throughout the postpartum period
- Kim et al., 2010 found:
○ Increasing gray matter volume increases in same brain regions- speaks to the idea that when the transition is kicking in there is a consolidation. Then expanision of key brain regions (preparation to enter new role)
- Kim et al., 2010 found:
- Reductions in gray matter during pregnancy precede increases in gray matter volume postpartum:
Parents’ brains first consolidate in preparation for and then expand in execution of caregiving
brain functioning
- Differences in how parents vs. nonparents respond to auditory and visual infant stimuli
- Differences in how parents respond to their own vs. other infants
- Differences involve specific brain regions: a global “parental caregiving” network
(Lambert & Kinsley, 2012)- Primed by the pregnancy hormones oxytocin and prolactin (Feldman, 2015)
- Subserves human capacities for empathy, mentalizing (theory-of-mind), and emotion regulation
(Bethlehemet al., 2013; Meyer-Lindenberget al., 2011; Feldman, 2015) - All skills new parents require when attempting to understand and care for newborns
- Potent hormonal characteristics of pregnancy and transition to parenthood
- Trigger unique neural pathways and responses that support parents’ capacities to care successfully for their infants (Lambert and Kinsley, 2012)
- Atypical neural activity in transition to parenthood underlie parenting difficulties
- Depressed mothers: significantly less reactivity in response to fearful and angry faces than nondepressed mothers (Moses-Kolko et al., 2010)
- Postpartum depression may affect important circuits for sensitively responding to infants’ cues and developing secure mother-infant attachment relationships
(Feldman, 2012)
Key social transitions: from woman to mother (Emmanuel & St John, 2010)
- Emmanuel & St John (2010) suggest becoming a mother encompasses several psychosocial challenges:
- Changing from a known to an unknown reality
- Taking on a new maternal identity, with associated feelings, behaviours, and skills
- Renegotiating prior social roles, such as employment, relationship with partner, and wider family roles
- Balancing multiple demands
- Experiencing losses, such as loss of control, sleep, freedom, and sense of self
Normal adaptation to these changes can encompass both emotional challenges and personal growth
Psychological adjustments (Contrasting theories and longitudinal studies)
- Contrasting theories and expectations:
- Evolutionary psychology: becoming a parent fulfils a fundamental human need, thus it should provide parents with a sense of life satisfaction
- Family stress model: becoming a parent lowers parents’ subjective well-being, at least temporarily, because parents are adjusting to major changes in their daily lives, roles, and relationships, and with change comes stress
- Longitudinal studies:
- New parents’ subjective well-being, or overall life satisfaction is particularly high just after the birth, but it declines in the succeeding months
(Luhman et al., 2012)
- New parents’ subjective well-being, or overall life satisfaction is particularly high just after the birth, but it declines in the succeeding months
Psychological adjustments (variety in findings and new parents wellbeing)
- Variety in findings on life satisfaction in the transition to parenthood:
- Clark et al., 2008: it declined significantly to below pre-pregnancy level, and stayed low for at least 4 years
- Dyrdal and Lucas (2013) found a return to pre-pregnancy levels after 2 years
- Galatzer-Levy et al., (2011) found that only a small subset of parents declined significantly (7%), whereas that vast majority (84%) remained relatively stable
- Whether new parents experience declines or stability in well-being
- Parents generally experience lower levels of subjective well-being than nonparents during the intensive childrearing years
- Parenthood may represent a fundamental psychological need according to evolutionary theory, BUT
- Fulfilling that need does not unequivocally benefit parents’ psychological adjustment, at least not in the short term.
- Subjective well-being in the transition to parenthood is lower:
(Galatzer-Levy et al., 2011; Nelson et al., 2014; Luhmann et al., 2012; Lachance-Grzela & Bouchard, 2009)- In the absence of a partner
- In younger individuals
- When the pregnancy is unplanned
These findings are likely to be related
key social transitions- relationships and sexual functioning
- Common belief that parenthood is central to a fulfilling romantic relationship (Hansen, 2012)
- Relationship satisfaction and sexual functioning decline moderately among men and women from pregnancy to the child’s first birthday (Mitnick, 2009)
- Increased marital conflict in the postpartum compared to during pregnancy (Hanington et al. 2012)
- Twenge et al. (2003) meta analysis of 90 studies comparing parents to childless individuals (n=30,000)
- Parents experience lower levels of relationship satisfaction than non-parents
- Parents of infants report lower levels of relationship quality than childless individuals or parents of older children
Key predictors of relationship quality include pre-pregnancy quality and duration, planned pregnancy, parents relationship status, and mental health status
relationship adjustments
- Unsurprisingly, one of the most studied areas in the transition to parenthood
- The introduction of a child into a couple’s life requires change in couples’ roles and responsibilities as a dyadic relationship becomes a triadic system
- Family systems theory:
- This shift will affect the functioning of both parents and their relationship
- Consistent finding in literature:
- Couples’ relationship satisfaction declines from the child’s birth over the first 6 months of life, as interpersonal conflict increases
(Bower et al., 2012; Cox et al., 1999; Doss et al., 2009; Elek et al., 2003; Kluwer, 2010; Mitnick et al., 2009; Wallace & Gotlib, 1990; Doss et al., 2009; Gottman, 1994; Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2003)
- Couples’ relationship satisfaction declines from the child’s birth over the first 6 months of life, as interpersonal conflict increases
Relationship adjustments- Reasons why transition strains couples’ relationships (likely obvious to anyone who has cared for a newborn):
- Couples get to spend less time together
- Dew and Wilcox (2011)
- Declines in amount of time together explained a large proportion of the decline in marital satisfaction during the first year of parenthood
- With less time for themselves, couples report fewer leisure activities together and decreases in sexual intimacy
- Dew and Wilcox (2011)
- Lack of sleep
- New parents’ sleep (quantity, quality, and consistency) can be disturbed for weeks or months after a baby is born
(Bayer et al., 2007; Gay et al., 2004; Hiscock & Wake, 2001; Lee et al., 2000) - Sleep deprivation and disruption (Medina et al., 2009)
- Predict greater negative mood and less positive mood
- Can undermine cognitive functioning in ways that could undermine marital quality
- An overtired parent (Kahn-Greene et al., 2006)
- Reacts more negatively to minor problems
- Brings weaker problem-solving skills and more blaming responses to those problems
- Significant link between sleep disruption and fatigue and lower relationship satisfaction
(Condon et al., 2004; Meijer & van den Wittenboer, 2007)
- New parents’ sleep (quantity, quality, and consistency) can be disturbed for weeks or months after a baby is born