Normal Stresses during the Transition to Parenthood

Abstract

For a large majority of married adults one of the sharpest expected changes is the transition to parenthood. Although pregnancy is a harbinger, the roles and tasks of parenting are acquired abruptly. As soon as the first infant is born, and certainly by the time parents go home from the hospital, they have parental roles—there are social expectations about what they should do. By comparison, later normative changes during the parental career occur much more gradually as children become toddlers, schoolchildren, teenagers, and then leave home. There is, then, a point in time when parental roles are abruptly acquired, but there is also a more gradual transition into the skills and routines of parenting. Although the transition to parenthood is considered a “critical role transition point,” it is also a phase or span of time