Poster #93 - Fathers’ Satisfaction with Physical Affection Before and After the Birth of a New Baby

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

Fathers’ relatively equal involvement as coparents has been linked to higher marital satisfaction for both couples (Galovan, Holmes, Schramm, & Lee, 2014). However, many modern parents report experiencing a high degree of pressure to spend large amounts of time with their children; in turn, they sacrifice time with their spouses, which can decrease the intimacy between couples (Edward, 2009). Hence, new parents confront a changed dynamic in their relationship that accompanies the need to accommodate a third family member. Although past research provides evidence for a possible association between satisfaction with physical affection (SPA) and family dynamics, the direction of effects between these variables has not been well elucidated. The present study examined whether both mothers’ and fathers’ post-birth SPA was predicted by the pre-birth SPA of themselves and their partners, and the direction of effects between coparenting and division of household labor with fathers’ SPA before and after the birth of a child.

Method

Participants were 97 predominantly middle-class couples (80% European American) that participated in two phases of a longitudinal study pre-birth (third trimester of pregnancy) and again when the child was 3 months of age. At each timepoint mothers and fathers separately completed Five individual items from the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), which were selected to form a physical affection satisfaction subscale. Fathers completed the Parenting Alliance Inventory (Abidin & Brunner, 1995) as an assessment of self-reported coparenting support at both timepoints. Fathers’ perceptions of the division of household labor were also assessed using the Who Does What Questionnaire (WDW; Cowan & Cowan, 1988).

Results

Path analyses tested associations between fathers’ satisfaction with physical affection (SPA) and mothers’ SPA, fathers’ coparenting and fathers’ division of labor. In the first analysis, an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Kenny et al., 2006) indicated that both fathers’ and mothers’ pre-birth SPA predicted their own post-birth SPA. Also, fathers’ pre-birth SPA was significantly related to higher levels of mothers’ post-birth SPA. Second, two cross-lagged path analyses were conducted. Associations between fathers’ SPA and coparenting are presented in Figure 1, and indicated that there is a significant stability before and after the birth of a new baby and fathers’ higher levels of pre-birth SPA predicted subsequent gains in coparenting support for fathers post-birth. Figure 2 revealed that greater expectations for fathers’ participation in household labor pre-birth predicted their greater participation in household labor post-birth. Fathers’ higher pre-birth SPA predicted higher post-birth SPA. Moreover, fathers’ post-birth SPA was affected by their pre-birth division of household labor.

Discussion

The present study provides evidence for the interconnectedness of fathers’ and mothers’ SPA. Our findings also indicate that SPA is a significant part of other relationship dynamics such as coparenting and division of household labor before and after the birth of a new baby. Given the reciprocal nature of these relationships, research and practice with young families would be well-served by incorporating an enhanced understanding of physical affection as both a contributor to – and an outcome of – adjustment to the addition of a new child.

Authors

• Yasemin Cava Tadik, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Geoffrey Brown, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author