First-Time Mothers' Expectations of Parenthood

Although it may be beneficial for expectant parents to be optimistic about their impending role, early parenthood does not consist solely of positive experiences. New parents are faced with an array of challenges, including sleep deprivation, mastering infant caregiving tasks, and substantial lifestyle changes . Therefore, it seems likely that some new parents' expectations will be disconfirmed if they are unrealistically optimistic and fail to anticipate more difficult aspects of parenthood. This raises the question of how disconfirmed expectations, particularly when experiences are not as positive as expected, influence adjustment during the transition to parenthood.

A number of studies in which support has been found for the psychological benefits of positive expectations have not made a direct comparison between expectations and experiences. In these cases, it is not possible to determine whether the expectations were confirmed or disconfirmed or whether disconfirmed expectations influenced adjustment. Other studies have found that disconfirmed expectations are associated with a more difficult adjustment to parenthood. Belky measured couples' expectations of how parenthood would influence different aspects of their marriage and found that, on average, the couples had optimistic expectations. However, when experiences were not as positive as expected, there was a decline in marital satisfaction. Similarly, Ruble and colleagues found that when women overestimated the amount of assistance they would receive from their partners, there was a decline in marital satisfaction.

These studies, then, demonstrated that discrepancies between expectancies and experiences in the transition to parenthood are associated with diminished marital satisfaction. Although these interpersonal dimensions are clearly important, the transition has still wider implications. Becoming a parent bears, potentially, on individuals' personal satisfaction, sense of self and well-being, relations with other family members and friends, adjustment to role change, and levels of stress.Kalmuss, Davidson, and Cushman (1992) addressed some of these issues in a study that focused on a broad range of women's expectations. In comparison to reported experiences 12 months after the birth, women had overly optimistic expectations about their relationship with their partner, family, friends, physical well-being, parenting competence, and the extent to which their partners would assist with caregiving. Disconfirmation of overly optimistic expectations was associated with poorer adjustment to parenthood . However, the conclusions that can be drawn from these findings are limited by the measures used. No standardized measures were used to assess adjustment outcomes, making it difficult to ascertain the reliability or validity of the results obtained. The main outcome variable was the participants' perceptions of ease of transition to parenthood: the sum of women's responses on three 4-point scales measuring perceived ease of transition to parenthood, satisfaction with life, and stress levels. Levels of stress and satisfaction were not measured in the prenatal testing phase, meaning that it is not possible to determine what contribution prenatal levels of stress and life satisfaction made to postnatal levels of these variables. Thus, whereas this study examined a broader range of expectations, further research, with measures that have established reliability and validity, is needed to advance understanding of the links between disconfirmed expectations and adjustment to parenthood.

Just as optimistic expectations about the future have been linked to positive psychological adjustment, so have people's expectations that they will be able to carry out the behaviors necessary to bring about desired outcomes. Self-efficacy beliefs influence behavioral, cognitive, and affective responses across a wide range of domains. Individuals with high self-efficacy beliefs have confidence in their own abilities and are more likely to conceive problems as surmountable challenges rather than as threats or uncontrollable events, experience less negative emotional arousal when engaged in challenging tasks, and persevere in the face of difficulties. Individuals with low self-efficacy beliefs are more likely to experience significant levels of self-doubt and anxiety when they encounter adversity, assume more responsibility for failure than success, perceive environmental demands to be threatening, avoid challenges, and cope dysfunctionally with problems.

Generalized self-efficacy beliefs have been shown to have a powerful effect on psychological well-being during times of adaptation and change. During these times, high self-efficacy beliefs are a psychological resource buffering the effects of environmental stressors, whereas low self-efficacy beliefs are a psychological vulnerability. For example, migrants with high self-efficacy were more likely to view their difficulties associated with their migration as a challenge, whereas those with low self-efficacy beliefs were more likely to view their situation as a threat. The impact of these self-efficacy beliefs on adjustment was more significant than the effects of sociocultural variables, such as being employed or having a partner.

During the transition to parenthood, individuals' self-efficacy beliefs may play two important roles. First, expectant parents with a high sense of parenting efficacy are likely to have optimistic expectations about their lives as parents. Although research in other domains has found evidence for a relationship between efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations, this relationship has not been investigated during the transition to parenthood. Second, if the experience of parenthood is not as positive as expected, then a high sense of efficacy might buffer any adverse effects of expectancy disconfirmation. Women with a high sense of efficacy seem better able to cope with some of the challenges of early parenthood, such as an infant who cries frequently or poor social support. Women with high-perceived parenting efficacy also report better relationship quality, greater confidence in parenting, greater satisfaction with their infants, and less dysphoria than women with lower perceived parenting efficacy. Given these findings, it is possible that those who have a positive sense of their own efficacy will cope with the challenge of experiences that are less positive than expected more effectively than women who have low levels of parenting efficacy.

In the present study, we examined the parenting expectations of a group of first-time expectant mothers. The participants reported their expectations of parenthood during their pregnancy and then their experiences of parenthood approximately 4 months after the birth of their infants. We examined expectations across a wider range of domains than has been tapped previously, namely, women's expectations of parenting and their infants and their expectations about the influence of parenthood on their relationships with their partners, their own well-being, and their social functioning. In addition, women completed measures of relationship adjustment, mood, parenting efficacy beliefs, and social support at both phases of the study.

The first aim of the study was to establish whether there were discrepancies between expectations and experiences. It was predicted that women would have positive expectations about parenthood and that experiences of parenthood would not be as positive as expected. The second aim was to establish whether parenting expectations were associated with prenatal psychological adjustment. The hypothesis was that optimistic expectations would be associated with positive psychological adjustment during pregnancy. Psychological adjustment was assessed via measures of mood, perceptions of social support, parenting efficacy, and relationship adjustment. It was predicted that women with optimistic expectations about parenthood would also have good relationship adjustment, high perceived social support, high parenting self-efficacy beliefs, and fewer symptoms of depression.

The third aim was to examine whether disconfirmed expectations influence adjustment to parenthood and whether parenting efficacy beliefs moderate this relationship. Postnatal mood and postnatal relationship adjustment were selected as measures of postnatal adjustment, as these are two factors that have been widely reported to be influenced by the transition to parenthood . The hypothesis was that experiences that were positive relative to expectations would have a favorable effect on adjustment, whereas experiences that were negative relative to expectations would have a negative effect on adjustment and that parenting efficacy beliefs would moderate this relationship. It was predicted that women with a high sense of parenting efficacy would cope more effectively with disconfirmed expectations. In contrast, women with a low sense of efficacy would find this kind of expectancy disconfirmation difficult.