Marriage satisfaction factors during the period after childbirth: analysis of foreign studies

Abstract

The article provides the analysis of contemporary foreign research devoted to the study of factors affecting the dynamics of the marital relationship, marriage satisfaction in the period after childbirth. The factors that influence the dynamics of the marital relationship during the transition to parenthood include: age and sex of the parent and child, marital experience; socio-economic status and parents’ work; personality traits of parent and child; the nature of spouse’s relations before the childbirth; the nature of relations in parent family; distribution of household responsibilities between the parents and the joint time of parents after the childbirth. The positive dynamics of marriage satisfaction in the period after the childbirth can be expected at such personal features as: a low level of depression, an adequate self-esteem, the sensitive and safe type of adult attachment, the child with "easy" temperament. Factors of relations system which have a positive effect on the relationship during the transition to parenthood, are: a positive relationship model in the parental family, a positive attitude and ability to constructively resolve conflicts more before childbirth, and fair and equitable sharing of domestic responsibilities after childbirth, as well as in the adequacy of time spent by the spouses together. The study of the effect of parent gender revealed contradictions in the results of research and analysis of the impact of child sex factor revealed that reducing the likelihood of marital satisfaction is higher for birth of a girl. Age factors, marital experience and socio-economic status affect negatively on the marital relationship satisfaction at the extremes of these factors.