6533b86cfe1ef96bd12c88d8

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Spousal support for personal goals and relationship satisfaction among women during the transition to parenthood

subject

description

The aim of this three-wave cross-lagged longitudinal study was to examine the prospective relationships between women’s goal-related spousal support and their relationship satisfaction during the transition to parenthood. Two-hundred and forty-six Finnish women who were either married or cohabited (45% primiparous; 55% multiparous) filled in questionnaires on personal projects (Little, 1983) and related spousal support, relationship satisfaction (Spanier, 1976), and background data three times: in their early pregnancy; one month before childbirth; and three months after childbirth. Among the primiparous women the results showed a cumulative cycle of goal-related spousal support and relationship satisfaction: goal-related spousal support in early pregnancy predicted higher relationship satisfaction just before childbirth, and, vice versa, relationship satisfaction in early pregnancy predicted higher goal-related spousal support just before childbirth. In turn, among the multiparous women only relationship satisfaction predicted goal-related support later on. In addition, the results showed that women perceived low spousal support for individualistic goals, such as self-related goals, and high support for shared goals, such as family-related goals.