POSTPARTUM ADJUSTMENT: SEX ROLES AND DYSPHORIC MOOD

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The goal of this psychosocial study of pregnancy and the postpartum period is to explore the impact of changing work and family roles on the relative levels of psychological distress or well-being experienced by primiparous mothers and their spouses. One hundred couples recruited from childbirth preparation classes will be surveyed at two points in time: at six weeks prior to the expected delivery date and at eight weeks following delivery. The self-report questionnaires will elicit data from each spouse regarding his or her: work and occupational status, sex role, value orientation, familial division of labor, perceived role-related stress, social supports, self esteem, locus of control and levels of depressive symptomatology, anxiety, and alcohol consumption. One hypothesis is that comparative levels of postpartum distress manifested by new mothers and their husbands are most similar in "parallel marriages" (in which both spouses are employed and both are responsible for housework/childcare) and most divergent (with wives much more distressed than spouses) in "complementary marriages" (in which the husband is employed and the wife is primarily responsible for housework/childcare). A variety of multivariate statistical techniques will be used in the data analysis. A longer term objective is to use these "exploratory" findings to design a larger scale study which encompasses clinical assessments and which follows couples for several years following the first pregnancy.