Poster #63 - Unplanned pregnancy and intrusive parenting behaviors among new mothers and fathers

• In Event: Poster Session 08

Abstract

Both the decision to become pregnant and to become a parent can impact both women’s and babies’ health (Gipson et al., 2008). Unintended pregnancy is associated with psychological distress in new mothers, including an increased risk of post-partum depression (Barton et al., 2017), which is tied to less responsive and more neglectful parenting practices (Elgar et al. 2004). To date, little is known about how men’s pregnancy intentions relate to their psychological well-being and parenting practices. For couples, the intention to become pregnant might differ (e.g., one planned and the other did not, both planned, or both were surprised). Since disagreements can impose strains on relationships that can ultimately impact parenting quality (Lamela et al., 2016), the aligned pregnancy intentions within couples may relate to how they engage with their infant. However, such intention is not well studied. In considering parent-child interaction quality, research finds that intrusiveness, parenting behaviors that inhibit children’s autonomy (Cox & Crnic, 2003), is inversely related to young children’s emotional development (Mortensen & Barnett, 2019). When adults have not planned for pregnancy and when unplanned pregnancy increases the risk of psychological distress, new parents may exhibit more controlling behaviors to compensate for their previous lack of control. Focusing on new parents, we assess how both pregnancy intention and agreement about pregnancy intentions relate to mothers’ and fathers’ intrusiveness as parents. Data come from the Baby Books 2 study, a 4-group randomized bilingual (English, Spanish) parenting intervention in Orange County, California, and Washington DC area. Couples (404 mothers and fathers) were recruited when their first child was 9 months. During home visits, they were asked, separately, background questions, including whether the pregnancy was planned. Then each was recorded playing and reading with their child. Recorded observations were coded for the level of intrusiveness on a 5-point scale (1=not at all intrusive, 5=highly intrusive). In separate models, OLS regressions assessed whether pregnancy intention and agreement of pregnancy intention (0=agreement-planned, 1=agreement-unplanned, 2=disagreement) were predictive of observed intrusiveness after controlling for babies’ gender, parents’ age, gender, educational attainment, nativity, and intervention site and condition. In general, parents were minimally intrusive (M=1.61, SD=0.676). Most (79.7%) agreed that the pregnancy was planned (49.0%) or unplanned (30.7%). Both pregnancy intention (ß = -0.110, p=0.037) and pregnancy disagreement (ß = 0.124, p=0.016) were associated with higher intrusiveness during parent-child interactions. Those parents who planned ahead and agreed to become pregnant were less intrusive than those who did not intend, or their partner did not intend, to become pregnant. These findings suggest that even when adults opt to become mothers and fathers, the transition occurring at an unplanned time is associated with lower quality parent-child interactions. Such findings are especially salient at a time when fewer women in the U.S. are able to select when they want to transition to motherhood. These results suggest the utility in asking about pregnancy intention for new parents and providing additional parenting support to those who originally did not plan their pregnancy.

Authors

• Chae Rhim Lee, University of California - Irvine
  Presenting Author

• Stephanie M Reich, University of California - Irvine

• Esmeralda Martin, University of California - Irvine

• Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park