Marital Quality Ten Years After the Transition to Parenthood: Implications of the Timing of Parenthood and the Division of Housework

Using a sample of 180 dual-earner, nondivorced couples, this study explored how the timing of parenthood and the division of housework are related to husbands' and wives' marital quality during the childrearing years. Hypothesized to be "at risk" for negative marital evaluations were early firstbirth couples who divided tasks in a less-traditional manner and delayed first-birth couples who divided tasks in a traditional manner. Analyses revealed that husbands and wives in the "risk" groups evaluated their marriages more negatively, suggesting that congruence between behaviors, background, and attitudes is important for marital quality. In addition, early first-birth couples evaluated their marriages more poorly than did the "on time" or "delayed" couples. Wives' gendertyped attitudes emerged as a significant covariate in the analyses but did not account for the effects of the timing of parenthood and the timing of parenthood X the division of housework interactions. Key Words: division of labor, housework, life course, marital quality, timing of parenthood, transition to parenthood. NOTE Parts of this article were presented at the annual meeting of the National Council on Family Relations, Arlington, Virginia, November 7-10, 1997. The author gratefully acknowledges Ella Bashore, Matthew Bumpus, Devon Corneal, Maria Eguia, Julia-Jackson-Newsom, Mary Maguire, Beth Manke, Sharon McGroder, Emily Smith, Robert Smith, Jennifer Tanner, Corinna Jenkins-Tucker, Jackie Weinstock, and Kimberly Updegraff for their assistance in bringing this project to fruition. The author is also most appreciative of the guidance and advice contributed by Ann Crouter throughout the preparation of this manuscript, as well as helpful feedback from Jay Belsky, Alan Booth, and Susan McHale on earlier versions of this article. The research was supported by Grant ROI-H32336-02 from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (Ann C. Crouter & Susan M. McHale, The Pennsylvania State University, co-principal investigators). [Reference] REFERENCES [Reference] Baldwin, W. , & Nord, C. (1984). Delayed childbearing in the U.S.: Facts and fictions. Population Bulletin, 39, 1-37. Belsky, J., & Kelly, J. (1994). The transition to parenthood: How a first child changes a marriage. London: Vermilion. Belsky, J., & Pensky, E. (1988). Marital change across the transition to parenthood. Marriage and Family Review, 12, 133-156. Belsky, J., & Rovine, M. (1990). Patterns of marital change across the transition to parenthood: Pregnancy to three years postpartum. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 5-19. Booth, A. , & Edwards, J. N. (1985). Age at marriage and marital instability. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47, 67-75. Braiker, H. , & Kelley, H. (1979). Conflict in the development of close relationships. In R. Burgess & T Huston (Eds.), Social exchange and developing relationships (pp. 135-168). New York: Academic Press. [Reference] Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Coltrane, S. (1990). Birth timing and the division of labor in dual-earner families: Exploratory findings and suggestions for future research. Journal of Family Issues, 9, 132-148. Coltrane, S. (1996). Family man: Fatherhood, housework, and gender equity. New York: Oxford University Press. Coltrane, S. , & Ishii-Kuntz, M. (1992). Men's housework: A life course perspective. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 54,43-57. [Reference] Cowan, C. P., & Cowan, P. A. (1992). When partners become parents: The big life change for couples. New York: Basic Books. …