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Mothers' Perception of Marital
Quality Over the Course of Two years
Following Childbirth
Adi Noy
Orit Taubman – Ben-Ari
Bar Ilan University, Israel
Marital Quality
• Higher levels of personal well-being (Proulx et al., 2007).
• Better health (Robles et al., 2014).
• Greater satisfaction with life, lower stress, and less depression (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2008).
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Marital Quality among Parents
• Decline in marital satisfaction - Parents have
significantly lower marital satisfaction than
nonparents (Keizer & Schenk, 2012; Lawrence et al., 2008; Twenge et al.,
2003).
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Aims of the Present Study
To examine:
• Mothers' perception of marital quality after childbirth, and over a period of two years following childbirth
• Variables that may contribute to this perception
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Mothers of Twins
• Higher level of tension (Glazebrook et al., 2004; Olivennes et al.,
2005).
• Higher levels of burden, stress, and exhaustion (Baor &
Soskolne, 2012; Vandell, 1990; Weigel et al., 2000).
What happens to the marital relationship afterthe birth of twins?
• Loss of contact with their partner vs. creatinggreater cohesion between the parents as a team(Ellison & Hall, 2003).
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Mothers of Pre-term
• Maternal anxiety and distress (Zelkowitz et al., 2007).
What happens to marital quality after the birth of a pre-term baby?
• Greater risk of separation (Shailender et al., 2006).
• No relationship between a pre-term birth and marital satisfaction (Gray et al., 2012).
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Attachment Orientation
• Affects quality of the marital relationship (Knoke et al.,
2010).
• Attachment anxiety and avoidance are associated with lower levels of current relationship quality (Kohn et al., 2012; Saavedra et al., 2010).
• Secure attachment is associated with better marital quality, and may protect this relationship during life transitions and stressful periods (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007).
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Social Support - Emotional and Instrumental
Maternal grandmother's support
• Contributes to the marital quality (Poehlmann et al., 2009;
Vandell, 1990; Findler et al., 2007).
Paternal grandmother's support
• May play a significant role in providing support, although mothers were less satisfied with the support from their mothers-in-law than with that from their own mothers (Ahlborg et al., 2009).
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The Current Study
• Mothers' perception of marital quality• one month (intercept)• over two years (slope)
• Birth circumstances• twins or singletons• pre-term or full-term• first or non-first baby
• Attachment orientation• anxious attachment• avoidant attachment
• Perceived support • from maternal grandmother• from paternal grandmother
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Hypotheses1. Marital quality will show a decline over the two years
following childbirth.
2. Mothers of twins, mothers of pre-terms, and first-time mothers will report lower marital quality.
3. Mothers with higher anxious and/or avoidant
attachment will report lower marital quality.
4. Perceived mother’s and mother-in-law’s emotional and instrumental support will be related to higher marital quality.
5. Perceived mother’s and mother-in-law’s emotional and instrumental support will mediate the relationship between attachment orientation and marital quality.
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Method
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non first57%
First43%
Participants–707Mothers
Singletons53%
Twins47% Singletons -
Full-term32%
Singletons -Pre-term
21%
Twins -Pre-term
23%
Twins -Full-term
24%
Procedure
• Data was collected through deliberate sampling as part of a longitudinal investigation conducted at a large medical facility in the center of Israel.
• Mothers filled out the questionnaires one month, one year and two years after childbirth.
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Instruments
• Evaluating and Nurturing Relationship Issues, Communication, and Happiness (ENRICH; Fowers & Olson, 1989).
• Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR; Brennan, Clark, &
Shaver, 1998).
• The Support Functions Scale (Dunst, Trivette, & Deal, 1988).
• demographic questionnaire.
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Data Analysis
Structural Latent Growth Model
• Used to estimate latent intercept (one month afterchildbirth) and latent slope (change over time) in level ofmarital quality.
• The background variables, circumstances of the birth,attachment orientations, and perceived support variableswere all included in the model.
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Non-first birth
Pre-term birth
Twins EmploymentReligiosityEconomic
statusEducation Age
Mother’s instrumental
supportMother’s emotional
support
.13*
-.37***
-.15***
.10**
-.09*
-.10**
.29***
-.22*
-.09*-.11***
-.11*
-.10**
.13***
-.10*
-.11**
-.20***
.09*-.16***
-.09*
-.11*
-.21***
-.09*
-.10*
-.21***
-.14**
Anxiety Attachment
Avoidance Attachment
MaritalQuality:
Slope
MaritalQuality:
Intercept
Mother-in-law’s instrumental
supportMother in law’s emotional
support
.26***
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Results
• A significant decline in marital quality over time (-0.13, p<.001).
• The model explained 40% of the variance in marital quality one month after birth (p<.0001).
• The model accounted for 19% of the variance in the change in marital quality over time (p<.001).
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Non-first birth
Pre-term birth
Twins EmploymentReligiosityEconomic
statusEducation Age
Mother’s instrumental
supportMother’s emotional
support
-.37***
-.15***
-.10**
.29***
-.22*-.10**
Anxiety Attachment
Avoidance Attachment
MaritalQuality:
Slope
MaritalQuality:
Intercept
Mother-in-law’s instrumental
supportMother in law’s emotional
support
.26***
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Conclusions
• Motherhood to twins or to pre-term does not affect marital quality.
• There is more rapid return to base-line marital quality in non-first time mothers.
• Attachment orientation is strongly connected to marital quality, both directly and through the perception of the support.
• Not all forms of support offered to mothers are positively related to marital quality.
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