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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