Becoming Parents: Exploring the Bonds between Mothers, Fathers, and their Infants

This book examines the transition from the perspective of adult attachment theory. It reviews previous studies of the transition to parenthood and of adult attachments, and presents the results of a comprehensive new study of parenthood. In this study, the researchers followed the experiences of approximately 100 couples who were becoming parents for the first time, together with a comparison sample of couples who were not planning to have a child at this stage. Couples were assessed on four occasions: during the second trimester of pregnancy, and 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months post-birth. The book addresses such key issues as the division of domestic labor, the changing nature of couples’ marital relationships, changes in new parents’ attachment networks, postnatal depression, and factors predicting the ease of the transition.

• Provides a firm theoretical basis in adult attachment theory • Offers a comprehensive picture of parenthood through interviews, diary records, and questionnaires • Includes the perspectives of both men and women on parenthood

Preface; 1. The transition to parenthood; 2. Attachment in childhood and beyond; 3. The study; 4. The couples; 5. Pregnancy and plans for birth; 6. Couples’ experiences of birth and new parenthood; 7. How does new parenthood affect couples?; 8. Dealing with depression; 9. Men, women, and household work; The diaries; 10. Couples’ changing attachment relationships; 11. Six months into parenting; 12. New parenthood in perspective.