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Stability and change in parental attitudes following an infant's birth into traditional and nontraditional Swedish families
Author(s) -
FRODI ANN M.,
LAMB MICHAEL E.,
FRODI MAJT,
HWANG CARLPHILIP,
FORSSTRÖM BRITTA,
CORRY THOMAS
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1982.tb00413.x
Subject(s) - psychology , resentment , developmental psychology , value (mathematics) , pregnancy , machine learning , politics , biology , political science , computer science , law , genetics
Fifty‐one Swedish couples were interviewed in the last trimester of their first pregnancy and again when their infants were 5 months old. Twenty‐five of the couples indicated that the mothers would be primary caretakers throughout the first year (traditional families) whereas the other 26 couples said that the fathers would be primary caretakers for between 1 and 6.5 months during the year (nontraditional families). Analyses showed that the value of parenthood and the value of work were stable from the first (prenatal) to the second (postnatal) interview, although prenatally‐anticipated paternal involvement was only marginally correlated with actual paternal involvement. Subjects agreed with their spouses when asked about the same issues, suggesting that the constructs had some validity. Parenthood and work were more highly valued by nontraditional parents than by traditional parents. Degree of paternal caretaking was positively correlated with the fathers satisfaction with and value of parenthood and negatively correlated with their resentment of the infant. Correlations differed somewhat among traditional and nontraditional mothers and fathers. Fathers were more involved with “difficult” sons and “easy” daughters than with “easy” sons and “difficult” daughters.